PAST MEETINGS

ACOCKS GREEN IN WWII

Talk given on 21 October 2019 by Mike Byrne to Solihull Local History Circle

There was a great deal of bombing of Acocks Green, partly because of the Rover Shadow Factory making part for aircraft beside the canal. It had been visited in March 1938 by King George VI. Unlike those in Germany, such shadow factories were not hidden away in woods, but were opened in towns to save transporting staff and to demonstrate that Britain was rearming before the war started. The shadow factory was a new building replacing a market gardening business and it was not demolished until 1975.

Maps of Birmingham covering 1940-43 showed the number of high explosive (blue dots) and incendiary bombs (red dots) which landed. The incendiary bombs were small, often thrown many at a time in baskets, and could be slow to start a fire. In 1942 a new, larger type was brought into use and these had an explosive charge, so were much more dangerous. Stirrup pumps, needing two men to operate them, were issued to Fire, and Air Raid Precaution Wardens to put out the fires. All householders were asked to leave gates and doors open (even though this made a house very cold)so that firefighters could access fire quickly. The contrast between the number of bombs that fell on Acocks Green, and other parts of Birmingham, compared with Solihull was most marked. Only one fire appliance was stationed at Alexander Road, but Tyseley had a larger Fire Station.

The largest air raids on Birmingham were in late 1940 into 1941. Amongst these were the nights of 15/26 August when 46 Cottesbrook Road was destroyed and two people killed. On 24/25 August four were killed when 14 Wildfell Road was destroyed, and elsewhere another house was bombed and work began to find the bodies. But the woman with her children had gone to visit her sister for the night and returned the following morning to find she had no home and digging was continuing. On 22/23 November three large water mains were fractured leaving the city 60% short of water; had there been another raid the following night nothing could have stopped the fires and gas explosions. Also in November the Hockley Bus Depot was badly damaged and many buses destroyed. Those that remained were dispersed and some were parked in Fox Hollies Road – with heaters to prevent their engines from freezing. On 10 December St Mary’s Church at Acocks Green was badly bombed. Over the following months services were held in the cinema until being resumed in a side aisle at Easter 1941.

The church school had been bombed on 18 October. 89 children were evacuated to East Retford (Notts) in January 1941, but 192 remained. Many individual children were sent out of the city: their experiences of living – sometimes over three years – with strange families varied, but some had unpleasant times. In 1942 a Day Nursery for 65 children opened in Flint Green Road which freed women to go to work. There were many fine posters to attract women into the forces, factories, the land army and many other occupations. Dame Laura Knight, RA, painted a woman working at her lathe in a factory. Women now had some money and enjoyed a social life with dance halls and cinemas doing good business during the war. When the end came and the trade union movement insisted ‘all women out, none can stay’ to allow men back into their jobs, there was much resentment.

Food rationing started in 1940 but never included bread or potatoes. The weekly allowance was 4oz lard, 2oz margarine, 2oz cheese, 2 pints milk, 1 egg, a tin of corned beef, and a pork/lamb chop. Clothes rationing was introduced in 1941 with an allowance of 68 coupons per person per year, reduced to 42 in 1948. A woman’s jacket was 11 coupons, skirt & blouse 7, shoes 5, knickers 4 and a bra 3. Each person was issued with a gasmask.

There were several different types of pre-fabricated houses, all detached, erected in Acocks Green. Some were on bombed sites, others on spare land. Many of those that survive are hidden by a faceing of brick, others were demolished, and a few – given to their occupants on condition that they removed them – were moved away to become holiday homes. There were allotments in Fox Hollies Road on land formerly belonging to Colonel Walker of Fox Hollies Hall.

HILLFIELD HALL

Talk given on 16 September 2019 by Nigel Cameron to Solihull Local History Circle

The land at Hillfield was bought in 1311 by Thomas Hawes, a lawyer. His descendants, whose eldest son was always named Thomas over six generations until 1531, never lived there, preferring Idlicote near Shipston-on-Stour. Hillfield Hall was built by William & Ursula Hawes in 1576. Constructed of expensive brick to a square plan under parallel roofs, it has two polygonal towers with battlements on either side of a pitched roof; its Long Gallery on the top floor predates the famous one at Aston Hall by 60 years. The Hall was a status symbol. William lived there until his death in 1611, when he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Edmund, and then by his grandson William II. The latter sold the Hall c1665 to George Fielding. The estate comprised five farms: Hillfield had 87 acres, Shelley 145 (sold in 1670) and three others. George added an ‘Italianate’ wing and a new entrance on the east side of the house, with a drive to Widney Manor Road. He was Bailiff of Solihull in 1671/2 and died in office, to be succeeded by his son Robert who lived in London. Robert was charming and extravagant, married two wealthy women in succession and quickly spent all their money. He was pardoned in 1677 for manslaughter, and followed James II into exile. Returning in 1695 he sold Hillfield in 1705. After being imprisoned for bigamy, he died in poverty in 1712 aged 61.

The Rev.Henry Greswold, Rector of Solihull 1660-1700 (who already owned Malvern Hall) bought Hillfield and installed his second son, also Henry (1671-1749), to live there. The latter’s unmarried daughter, Ann, inherited, and on her death in 1756 it passed to her cousin Mary Greswold, the wife of David Lewis of Malvern Hall. The two Halls remained in the same hands until 1896 when Malvern Hall was sold. Hillfield was rented out to tenant farmers. The tenant in 1795 was Peter Wooldridge who had 114 acres at £105pa. In 1805 Stephen Sprigg had the same terms and his daughter later succeeded him. The Birmingham-Oxford Railway cut the estate in half in 1852, and by 1861 the house was empty. A disastrous fire in January 1867 broke out in the evening. The Solihull fire engine eventually arrived, but the water for their hoses was frozen. Help was summoned from Birmingham but it was six hours after the fire had started that their crews arrived. The Italianate east wing was completely destroyed. Restoration of the remainder returned the main entrance to the west front. From 1871-86 George Beard, a pin manufacturer, and his family were the tenants, followed by Frederick Wright and family until1904. Samuel Boddington, a woollen merchant, and his family then took over the tenancy until 1928. All had live-in servants, sometimes up to seven.

In 1932 Oswald Eveson bought the Hall and ran his coal merchant business from there. It was Listed Grade II* in 1949. After his death in the early 1950s, his widow, Florence, continued to live there until 1964 when she sold it (now with only seven acres) for £15,000 to Peter & Marguerite Parry. They ran it as a night club/casino and lived on the upper floors, converting it into an up-market restaurant in 1974. There was a major restoration with new kitchens for which the architect was given a Civic Trust Award. On 22 October 1976 they hosted a memorable Buffet Supper to celebrate 400 years since the building of the Hall, to which Gordon Hawes flew especially from the USA.

Mitchells & Butler bought the Hall in 1984 and used it as a Toby Carvery and pub. In 2001 it was acquired by a developer who applied for Planning Permission to subdivide the building vertically into three apartments, convert the stable block and lodge into three dwellings and build a further 12, ie 18 in all. Despite many objections, permission was granted. The houses were marketed as ‘the finest new addresses in Solihull’ by Fairclough Homes. Those with three bedrooms cost £400,000 and four bedrooms £450,000.

BEER, BETS, and BULL-BAITING in the BLACK COUNTRY

Talk given by Mary Bodfish on 15 April 2019 to Solihull Local History Circle

Smethwick, Wednesbury and Dudley like many others in the late 18^th century were Staffordshire hamlets, but great changes were beginning. Harborne was an extensive district partly in Staffs and partly in Warwickshire: its large map of 1828 is most interesting.

Small beer (made in the Black Country from Worcestershire hops and Staffordshire barley) had been brewed for centuries. Everybody, including children, drank it as it was safer than water. The 1267 Assize of Ale made parish constables responsible for reporting defaulters in its production and sale. Inns (offering accommodation) and particularly alehouses were numerous, and were the hubs of social life. Drunkenness was common in every century. With the development of iron and glass works, where men worked in hot conditions, the demand for beer soared and inebriation increased. In the late 18^th century seamen brought back Dutch gin: between 1807 and 1827 its consumption doubled. The Government was worried, as beer sales – and the taxes levied on its production – fell. It therefore passed the Beerhouse Act of 1820 which abolished the taxes but introduced a two guinea Licence for premises to sell beer on and off the site, but not wine or spirits. Sales were not to be made before 4am or after 10pm, and there were restrictions on Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day. Ale sellers were delighted and 20,000 Licences were issued.

A wake is a fair on the day before a saint’s festival, eg the dedication of the parish church. They began to decline in the late 16th century and finally ended under Cromwell. But they were revived in the 18^th century ‘for the benefit of victuallers’. They were times for the autumn when less labour was needed on the land, so country dwellers could join townsfolk, where market places could provide space. There were races, competitions and gurning (pulling faces through a horse collar), but also many cruel sports involving animals whom the ignorant did not realise suffered pain. The baiting of a bear or bull by specially bred fierce dogs, cock fights and dog fights were common; there was also wrestling and bare-knuckle boxing. All involved betting. Men would sell household items, even their domestic pig, to raise money which they would soon lose or drink away. Respectable people avoided the noisy crowds where pickpockets flourished.

Usually the alehouse keeper supplied the bull which was chained to a floor bolt and could move about 15 yards. Each dog owner would pay a fee for his Bull Mastiff, English Bulldog or Staffordshire Terrier to attack the bull for a set period of time. At the end the bull would be butchered and the meat sold to the onlookers. The popularity of the ‘sport’ is recalled in the names of streets today. Occasionally the bull escaped, eg at Bilston where it overturned stalls, injured many people and finally escaped into the fields where it was shot. In Harborne a man was tossed by the bull through an upstairs window and did not emerge from the house for two days. But public opinion started to turn against baiting: Birmingham banned it in 1773 (whereupon it moved to Handsworth) and Wolverhampton in 1815 (by refusing to licence publicans who provided bulls). In 1800 a Bill had been introduced into the House of Commons to ban the practice because the Government was frightened of crowds following the French Revolution, but it failed by two votes. In 1822 an Act prevented the ill-treatment of cattle, but the High Court decided when six Dudley men appealed against their conviction that ‘cattle’ did not include bulls. Bull-baiting now tended to be on private land and only in 1835 did the Cruelty to Animals Act finally forbid the ‘sport’.

Cockfighting usually involved seven fights, each taking about ten minutes especially after the cockerel’s claws had been fitted by a metal spur at the back. There was plenty of time between fights for bets to be placed. Wednesbury Parish Church has a 14^th century wooden cockerel as its lectern. Boxing has inherited Featherweight and Bantamweight levels from cockfighting. Cockfights were outlawed in 1849. Dogfighting still continues illicitly with the West Midlands being a hotspot. Boxing, regulated by the Queensbury Rules of 1867, and wrestling continue as sports, with much betting on the professionals. Other sports and pastimes grew in popularity helped by the development of railways and the Saturday half-day holiday.

THE HISTORY of the BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

Talk given by David & Pam Humphries on 18 March 2019 to Solihull Local History Circle

The fields on which the Hippodrome now stands belonged to the Ince family who, in 1870, started to lease them out for housing: the National Trust’s Back to Backs are survivors of this. Brothers Henry & James Draysey demolished the houses opposite to build the Tower of Varieties modelled by architect F.W.Lloyd on a theatre with a tower topped by a minaret in Blackpool. It had a round stage for circuses with 3,000 surrounding seats. It opened on 9 October 1899 but was not a success. Lloyd redesigned it into a conventional proscenium theatre with 2,000 seats in orchestra, dress circle gallery and six boxes. It reopened on 20 August 1900 as the Tivoli Theatre of Varieties. It still had circus acts, often with a horse on the front of the programme, as the Drayseys were also bookmakers. Its manager was Harry Calver, during whose time Cora Turner performed at the theatre. She married, as his second wife, Harley Crippen who poisoned her and then fled on a liner to America. The captain became suspicious and radioed Scotland Yard (the first use of radio for this purpose). Crippen was executed in 1910. Another act was Chung Lin Soo, a Chinese magician (in fact an American), one of whose tricks was to shoot his wife. When performing subsequently in London he used a real bullet and his wife died.

In 1903 the theatre was bought by Thomas Barrasford who renamed it The Hippodrome, and made it famous as a music hall with twice nightly shows. As it was on a corner, audiences would enter from Hurst Street and leave in Ince Street; young boys would seek programmes from the departees and sell them for their own profit to those arriving. Barrasford’s great rival was the Stoll-Moss Company which owned the Empire Theatre and the Aston Hippodrome. Annette Kellerman, an Australian famous as a nude, appeared on 7 July 1913, and Dorothy & Shaun Ward (who lived to be 97 and 84 respectively) were frequently on stage. Marie Lloyd, George Robey, and W.C.Fields came, as did Fred Brice, ‘the black sheep of his family’, who was gay (then illegal); he committed suicide aged 53 when told he had only three months to live. Thomas Barrasford died in 1910.

The Hippodrome closed on 6 June 1914 and was taken over later that month by T.Alan Edwards who, using Bertie Crewe the architect (six of whose theatres survive, including Redditch), made major alterations. The gallery was removed and the dress circle enlarged with a central aisle; the seating remained at 2,000. The theatre did not reopen until 1917. Cinemas were growing more popular, especially after the introduction of ‘talkies’ in 1927. Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon opened at Perry Barr in 1930, the first of many such buildings. The Hippodrome had been bought by Stoll-Moss in 1924, who refurbished it. A Folies Bergere Revue was staged in August1929. George Formby and Gracie Fields each appeared in 1932 and Montovani in 1938.

During WWII performances were advanced so that audiences could start their journeys home before the black-out. In October 1944 the Empire Theatre was badly damaged by incendiary bombs; one also hit The Hippodrome but the theatre was saved by a fire-fighter. Stars who appeared after the war were Jewel & Wariss in 1945, Laurel & Hardy in 1949 (supported by Charlie Hall from Washwood Heath who went on to appear in 47 or their films), Vera Lynn in 1949 (and again in 1953) and Danny Kaye in 1949. The first pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, was produced in 1957 featuring Beryl Reid. Lonnie Donnegan appeared in 1959, Cliff Richard in 1961, and the Beatles at the bottom of the bill in March 1968 and at the top by the end of that year. My Fair Lady ran for six months in 1964.

Moss Empires closed the Theatre Royal in New Street, which was then demolished, to launch ATV in the 1960s. They removed the tower from The Hippodrome as it was unsafe, and provided a new foyer. It was renamed The Birmingham Theatre, but that decision was soon reversed. In 1970 Hair was produced and Danny La Rue appeared. Welsh National Opera first came in 1971.

Moss Empires sold the freehold of The Hippodrome to the City Council in 1979 and various enlargements were made over the years, eg the Mission Hall next door was bought and demolished, enabling the stage to be doubled in size to become the largest in the UK outside London. This enabled major companies to appear. Saddlers Wells even relocated to become the Birmingham Royal Ballet. This necessitated the rake of the stage to be removed and a slope inserted in the stalls to compensate. Glyndebourne and Opera North started to appear in the 1970s, as did Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company – Joseph & His Amazing Coloured Dreamcoat, Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar were all played here. In June 1985 Lauren Bacall appeared in Tennesse Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth which Richard Edwards, the Birmingham Post Theatre critic, had labelled as casual. He attended her press conference in the Midland Hotel with his umbrella, which she then snatched and used to beat him. The 1999 Royal Variety performance, attended by The Queen on 29 October, was one of the first to be held outside London. The Hippodrome does not produce any of its own shows, but contributes over £40m to the local economy and is the most visited theatre in the UK with 60,000 patrons each year.

TALES from ST MARY’S, ACOCKS GREEN

Talk given by Michael Byrne on 18 February 2019 to Solihull Local History Circle

Acocks Green developed from the opening of the railway station in 1852. There had been a small Congregational chapel on Stockfield Road in 1827, which was replaced in 1860 by a large church with a spire in Warwick Road (architect Yeoville Thomason). This was demolished in 1973.The Methodists had a chapel by 1873, but it was not until 1864 that the Anglicans started to build. The land for St Mary’s was given by the Trustees of Yardley from which parish the new parish was created. The architect was J.G.Bland. The lofty nave and two aisles, built of brick and stone, were consecrated in 1866, the first Vicar being the Rev. Frederick Swinburn (who remained until 1890). A steeple planned on the south west side was never built, but J.A.Chatwin added a chancel, vestry and organ chamber in 1894. The East window was by Burne-Jones, whose pupils provided many other windows (none of which were removed during WWII), and Hardman the West window. The speaker told four tales about the church.

MISADVENTURE: In the churchyard there is an unmarked grave. It is that of Frederick Joseph Perceval, whose father initially farmed in Warwickshire and then in the USA. Frederick, born in 1873 had a younger brother (George) and both boys were baptised at Barston in 1876. The family moved to Iowa in 1882 but then returned in 1886 for the boys to go to Solihull School. In 1889 they returned to the USA and later moved to a 600 acre cattle farm at Priddis, near Calgary. Frederick’s father died in 1920. In 1929 Frederick unexpectedly found himself, on the death of a distant cousin, the 10^th Earl of Egmont, an Irish peerage created in 1733. He moved with his family to Avon Castle, Ringwood (Hants) where they lived in the kitchen which was converted to look like their Canadian shack, leaving the rest of the mansion empty. The Earl died in a car accident in 1932 and was buried at St Mary’s because many of the wider Perceval family continued to live in this area. The Vicar (Rev.Philip Kelly) feared the funeral would attract great crowds and tried to keep it secret, unsuccessfully. Frederick’s son, the 11^th Earl, who had been born in 1914, returned to Canada where he died aged 87 in 2001. His son, Thomas, born in 1934, the 12^th Earl, died childless in 2011 when the title became extinct.

MAYHEM: On 10 December 1940 two bombs hit the church and did serious damage. The north aisle was given a temporary roof and services restarted at Easter 1941. The church was fully repaired by 1949 with higher walls containing clerestory windows and much more clear glass, all to increase the amount of light in the interior. Tiles replaced slates on the roof. Rev. Philip Kelly was Vicar 1931-53. He had served as an Army Chaplain in WWI and remained as such in the Territorial Army whilst at St Mary’s. He liked his beer and would hold services in pubs, for which he became very popular.

MURDER: Emily Palmer died in 1885 aged 35 and was buried under a fine column in the churchyard. Resident in the parish, she was the landlady of The White Hart in Paradise Street, Birmingham. Although married, she had had an affair with Henry Kimberley who was distraught when it ended. He attacked her; she survived, but her friend Emily was killed. The trial was held at Birmingham Assizes in February 1886 and Kimberley was hanged on 17 March – the first within Winson Green Prison. [Until then all Midlands hangings had taken place in public where the crime had been committed]. The State Hangman was James Berry who brought his own rope: he hanged 131 persons during his period in office 1884-91.

TERRORISM: Joseph Taylor (who had chaired the committee which produced an illuminated address to Rev.Frederick Swinburn in 1890) owned an iron works, which had been founded in 1849. In 1857 he took on an engineering apprentice, Stephen Challen (1842-1937), who became a partner in 1873. The firm became famous as Taylor & Challen. Stephen came with his family c1910 to live at 34 Blossomfield Road, Solihull. The firm had built the gun casings and bombs with which Felice Orsini (an Italian nationalist), and an English collaborator, attempted to assassinate Napoleon III in Paris on 14 January 1858. Thomas Alsop, a 62 year old stockbroker had ordered the three bombs from the company, and had provided his old British passport to enable Orsini to enter France. Eight members of the escort and other bystanders were killed, and over 100 injured. Orsini was arrested, tried and guillotined on 13 March 1858. Alsop fled England for America where he stayed several months to avoid punishment.

THE HISTORY OF LAPWORTH CHURCH

Talk given by Peter Hill on 21 January 2019 to Solihull Local History Circle.

“A splendid church, not without problems” – Pevsner 1968. The speaker (who led our visit to St Mary’s on 22 March 2018) explained the problems very clearly with outstanding images, beginning with a sketch from the west by William Green in 1946. Lapworth was Hliappa’s Enclosure when it was recorded on a deed of Denebright, Bishop of Worcester, in 816. By 1086 it had a plough and 3 villagers, so was very small compared to neighbouring Rowington with 8 ploughs, 27 villagers and a priest. The original Lapworth Church, comprising an aisless nave and a small chancel, was built in the late 12^th century; Nicholas was Rector in 1190. Ralph Marshall was Lord of the Manor in 1182, when there were also two smaller manors (Kingswood and Broom) within the parish. The north aisle and north chapel were built c1200, but which came first ? The lowest part of the south aisle wall is pinkish stone on its inner face (as opposed to the greyer 14th century sandstone higher up). Was there a lean-to structure with a simple doorway and a font ? The latter is now, unusually, in the north aisle – the sinister side with its internal gargoyles of the seven deadly sins. Merton College, Oxford, has held the advowson since 1270, aparty from a short break when it was held by Edward I. The chancel arch was heightened in 1310-15 at the same time as Wroxall’s was increased in height.

At the west end of the church is the chantry chapel, accessed by two spiral staircases from the outside and not from within the church (until 1870). Richard de Montfort endowed this in 1373 with a priest to say mass for St Thomas-a-Becket, and to house relics givern to the church in 1277. But this building dates from the 15^th century, so was it a later rebuild ? The detached tower (one of only 50 in England) on the north side dates from 1380, with the spire added c1470. In 1883 its top 12ft was damaged by a storm: the stone remained a darker colour until after 2000. There were 5 bells; 6 from 1962. The north chapel was remodelled c1466, and the clerestory and new roof added to the nave in 1470 when the outsides of the north and south aisle walls were resurfaced. As with most other churches, the rood loft was removed in the 1550s.

The Lapworth Missal (a large book 17 x 11ins of 257 pages) dates from 1398 and had been held by Corpus Christie College, Oxford, since it was gifted to them by Henry Parry, son of the Bishop of Worcester. Following its ‘discovery’ by a parishioner in 1988, Joy Woodall researched it for a talk in 1999. Whilst still denying parishioners sight of The Missal, the College presented the church with a digitalised copy in 2012. The Catesbys were Lords of the Manor 1427-1598, and during this time financed many of the alterations. On the death of Sit William, it was sold to Sir Edward Greville from who it passed to the Holtes of Aston Hall.

The church fell on hard times from the 1700s until 1807 when there was ‘an ill-advised restoration’ with box pews and a central pulpit. Further restorations followed in 1860 and 1872, both by G.E.Street, when the plaster was stripped from the walls, the west gallery removed, and the tower connected to the church. The second restoration was estimated at £800, but the out-turn was double this. In 1923 the War Memorial (designed by Edwin Reynolds) was erected in the churchyard. Its top was damaged by lightening in 1938 and never replaced. Eric Gill carved the Florence Bradshaw Memorial in the north chapel, and visited the church, in 1928.

SLHC MEMBERS’ ILLUSTRATED TALKS : 17 DECEMBER 2018

Dr RICHARD WASSELL, by ALLAN EVANS

Richard Wassell, organist of St Alphege Church 1942-49, was the principal founder of The Solihull Society of Arts in 1944. He died on 17 July 1949. His grave, in the churchyard between the main and west doors, had deteriorated and has recently been restored, using donations from The Society and private individuals. He was born in Tipton the son of a foundry worker in 1880, and left school at the age of 12. He studied church music under Charles Perkins, the Birmingham City Organist, and at 29 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He was music master at King Edward’s 1914-18 when the School was in New Street.

Richard was appointed organist of St Martins-in-the-Bullring in 1920; he also conducted the City Choir and the Birmingham Choral Society. Webster Booth (who, with his wife Anne Ziegler, became a famous duettist) was one of his pupils. Richard was also a composer of hymn tunes (eg “Jesu, the very thought of thee”) and psalm chants (eg No 24). He was active in civic affairs and was Musical Director of the Birmingham & Midland Institute. From 1922-42 he was Director of the Birmingham Police Band, and was the adjudicator of many musical competitions. His abilities were noticed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who conferred on Richard a Lambeth Doctorate of Music in 1939.

He was the first Director of the Music Section of The Society and was keen that it had a competitive music festival. Sadly this was only achieved in 1952 after his death. His wife, Annie (died 21 Sept. 1950) was buried in the same grave. They had four sons, the youngest born in 1918, but only two were mentioned in his obituary – perhaps they had predeceased him. Another mystery is the inscription on the top of his grave which seems Shakespearian, but no authorship has yet been established. The inscription reads:

Do with me, O sweet music as thou wilt till even thou art robbed by jealous sleep

Of these sweet senses thou hast forced on me, and I can neither laugh with thee or sleep.

OLTON PHOTOGRAPHS 1901-1904, by KEITH STAPLES

Barnett Johnson (1832-1910) was born in Boston (Lincs) and became a banker’s clerk. He retired in 1890 and moved with his family to a terrace house in Richmond Road, Olton. His glass plate photographs are held in Birmingham Library.

The east side of St Bernard’s Road contains the even numbered Edwardian houses. No 2 was demolished in 1960 for the widening of the Warwick Road. Dr Lunn practiced at No 1 on the opposite side: the photo showed no trees. The railway bridge in what is now Ulverley Green Road was knocked down in 1930 when it was replaced by one carrying four railway lines. The road itself was the Warwick Road which zigzagged through the village before the straightened road was built. The corner shop looking like a toll house was the post office with grocery.

James Kent, a wealthy Birmingham shoemaker, leased the 16^th century Chapel Field Farmhouse (demolished in 1954) and its 96 acres in 1873, and developed the estate. The James Kent Cottages were in Richmond Road between the railway and canal. St Margaret’s Church School was next door, but it was too small and soon pulled down. The canal keeper’s cottage was immediately adjacent to the canal bridge. A fascinating photo from the towpath showed the canal emptied of water. Northward of Lyndon Road branching off, Richmond Road entered its Park with a lodge: a 1904 photo showed Katie, one of Barnett’s three daughters, in front of this. The grand house it was to serve was never built, but other photos showed the Richmond Park terraced houses, in one of which the Johnson family lived. They were all shown outside their house, and another was of an ‘Out Porter’ from the station with a parcel handcart. Other pictures were of J.White, with his knife grinder in the Old Warwick Road; the Solihull Rural District dustcart in Richmond Park tipping rubbish into a pit; the Council’s Invicta steamroller; and threshing with a steam engine beside an old fashioned haystack.

In the discussion that followed Keith’s talk, mention was made of the timber yard, one of four run by Cartwright & Co. This was served entirely by barges on the canal: both David Patterson (briefly) and his father worked there. Next door on the wharf (although not dependant on the canal) were Quaife & Lilley who made cricket bats: both played for Warwickshire.

WARWICKSHIRE CHURCHES & THE STRATFORD CANAL, by ADAM PEARCE

Berkswell Church was built c1170 partly above an octagonal Anglo-Saxon crypt. One photo was of the SLHC visit outside the c1500 timber framed porch. The adjacent old rectory (late 17^th century) was the home of the Watson girls whose father, the Rev.Henry, was the Rector. They were keen on tennis and Maud, the younger, beat her sister in the final at Wimbledon to be the first ladies champion in 1884. She retained her title in 1885. Northwest of the church is Berkswell Hall (1663) now flats. Little known Ram Hall (c1680) is part brick and part stone. A final picture was of a Fergusson tractor with a ginger cat asleep on the seat – in fact stuffed, but it kept the children from climbing on the tractor.

Lapworth Church photos, some taken on the SLHC visit, included the interior and details of the new Peace Window. Preston Bagot church on its hilltop has an ancient sundial on its porch, and figures by Burne-Jones in clear glass in several windows. They came from the Quaker Meeting House in Birmingham before it was destroyed in WWII. Beside a field hedgerow was a sign ‘Bridal Path’, instead of bridle.

The Stratford Canal was built on the cheap c1810, and most of its bridges are split in the middle to allow the tow rope to pass through, as there was no space for the horse to leave the path. The lock-keepers’ cottages all have barrel roofs as the shuttering used for road bridges was reused for this purpose. One is now owned by the Landmark Trust. Adjacent to the Lowsonford cottage was a statue by Anthony Gormley. It remained for a year as part of a popular art programme. Outside the village post office is a model of Postman Pat. Near Yarningdale Common is the shortest (12ft) aqueduct where the canal crosses a track; originally it was wooden, but this was washed away following a leak from the Grand Union Canal. The Ramblers Association (of which Adam has been a member for 25 years) also clears footpaths, and attaches a black sign to waymark posts where it has done so. Finally, pictures of Ribbesford Church near Bewdley with its superb Norman tympanum showing a beaver-like animal, but otherwise largely rebuilt following a lightning strike in 1877.

THE 1951 FESTIVAL of BRITAIN

Talk given by Janice Andrews on 19 November 2018 to Solihull Local History Circle

Britain in the late 1940s was a dreary country which was only slowly recovering from WWII. The winter of 1946/47 was severe, one million were unemployed, rationing was still in operation and there was a shortage of houses. Newspapers were restricted to their wartime size. Coal was scarce because it was exported to pay war debts. The top rate of tax was 19/6d in the £1. 40% of the population wanted to emigrate.

Gerald Berry of the News Chronicle suggested that the Centenary of the Great 1851 Exhibition should be celebrated. The Labour Government agreed and Herbert Morrison, the Home Secretary, said it would be ‘a tonic for the nation’. The Tories opposed the idea and Lord Beaverbrook called it ‘Morrison’s Folly’. Berry was appointed Director General of the project and was supported by the Arts Council, the Council of Industrial Design, the Film Institute and others. Misha Black, the designer, and Hugh Casson, the architect, were amongst those directing the plans. The cost was estimated at £11m (£308m today). Many sites were considered for the Festival, including Hyde Park and even the demolition of Wormwood Scrubs prison, but eventually 27 acres of wasteland adjacent to County Hall and Waterloo Station was chosen. This space proved to be too small, so a Pleasure Garden was added in Battersea Park (which continued to operate until the mid 1970s). Contractors were appointed and site work began in early 1950, but the 1950/51 winter was wet; there was a military style to management, and industrial relations were not good. It was a miracle that the Festival opened on time.

King George VI inaugurated the Festival at a service in St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday 3 May. It was raining, as it was the following day when the South Bank site opened with 98 turnstiles and 1,200 loudspeakers. Entrance was 5 shillings, or 4s after noon; the average wage at the time was £10-10s (£6.65p today). Parliament had passed the Festival of Britain Sunday Opening Act which allowed the Exhibition to stay open seven days a week – a major change to Sundays on which, up until then, everything was closed. The Festival continued until September and proved to be very popular – indeed the closing speech was booed. Paid admissions at the South Bank site were over 8.5m (56% from outside London and 7.5% overseas), and 6m at the Pleasure Gardens. Once it ended, the Conservative Government pulled down everything except the Festival Hall.

The inaugural concert on 4 May in the Royal Festival Hall was entirely British music conducted by Sir Malcolm Serjeant. The VIPs invited did not include architects; indeed Hugh Casson found a fax terminating his contract when he returned home that night. The lift at the Hall got stuck with the VIPs inside it. Another musical feature of the Festival was the Trinidad Steel Band, the like of which had never before been seen in Britain. Noel Coward wrote a ditty ‘Don’t Make Fun of the Festival’ which was very popular: it contained the line ‘At least it’s warmer than your home’.

The Festival Symbol was designed by Abram Games (1914-96), a London graphic artist, who had designed many wartime posters, including ‘Grow Your Own Food’. He was paid 300 guineas, but not given the copyright. Many organisations throughout the UK, both commercial and voluntary, used the logo which had Britannia, a compass, flags and the year.

At the South Bank the Dome of Discovery showed the British initiatives in exploring not only the Earth, including polar regions and the sea, but also outer space. Adjacent pavilions displayed the Land (including transport), and Peoples of Britain (including new schools and sport). Other pavilions were devoted to television, cinema and the 1851 Exhibition. The nearby Shot Tower, dating from 1826, had a lighthouse mounted at its top which flashed until closing time each day, and could be seen for 45 milers. The Skylon, a vertical feature in steel and aluminium, was designed by Powell & Moya and was 300ft high. A brass citcle in the Thames Walkway marks its site today. Related exhibitions in London were Living Architecture (the Lansbury Project) in Poplar, Books in South Kensington and a special display at the Science Museum. There was a Travelling Exhibition, conveyed by 100 lorries, which visited Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Nottingham in turn. The Festival Ship ‘Campania’ took an exhibition to 10 UK ports between May and September.

Birmingham held a Festival Exhibition to which entry was 4s. It concentrated on manufacturing, but there were also a demonstration by the Women’s League of Health & Beauty. Marshall & Snelgrove produced a ribbon which was identical to one they had designed for the 1851 Exhibition. There was speedway racing, a horse parade and a Festival Pigeon Race. The Big Dipper from Sutton Coldfield was taken to the Pleasure Gardens in London, but the town never got it back.

Many memorabilia were produced with the Festival logo on magazines, crockery, blocks of soap, powder compacts, car badges, and even on drainpipes. There was a 5ft Skylon kit. A limited number of Festival biros were produced by that company, one of which was recently for sale on Ebay for £325. Oakley, and other villages in Bedfordshire, still have the Festival logo on their signboards. Ken Hewitt pointed out, and showed his own example, that the 1951 Crown coin produced by the Royal Mint surprisingly did not show the logo.

THE LITTLE MAIDS AND THE WANDERING BUTLER

DOMESTIC STAFF at BADDESLEY CLNTON 1880-1923

Talk given by Jill Kashi on 15 October 2018 to Solihull Local History Circle

Apart from a photo of the staff in 1905, no accounts or records of the household have survived. It was relatively small by the standards of the time. There was a strict hierarchy for servants. The Housekeeper was in charge of the female staff, with the next rank being the Cook (although thus could be a man in Victorian times) and the Head Housemaid. The Butler looked after the male staff with First Footman being the next rank down. Wages for a Housekeeper aged around 40 would be £52pa whilst a scullery maid, the lowest rank, would be £13pa; all received board and lodging free. Equivalent male ranks were paid more. Each household displayed a set of rules for staff: that from Hanbury Hall included ”Always giver way to house family members and more senior servants. Do not speak to your employer except to answer, and do not speak to a fellow servant in the presence of your employer”.

In 1880 Baddesley Clinton belonged to Marmion Ferrers (1813-84) who had married Rebecca Orpen at Deal in May 1867. They had a wedding breakfast at the Orange Tree, Chadwick End. They went to live with their friends Edward & Georgina Dering who rented Wootton Wawen Hall, whilst Baddesley was being restored: “the house was covered in plaster – not the place for a new bride”. In 1869 the Quartet, as they were known, moved into Baddesley where Marmion carried out his duties as squire, Rebecca painted, Edward tried to write novels but was much less successful than Georgina. All were fervent Roman Catholics, wore black velvet and entertained widely. Georgina died in 1876 and Marmion eight years later. He had spent beyond the income of the estate and left a mortgage of £2.8m in today’s terms. On 21 September 1885 Edward Dering and Rebecca married at St Francis of Assisi in the village of Baddesley Clinton. They entertained Catholic intellectuals to dinner and Catholic groups to lunch. Edward died in 1892 by which time the mortgage had increased to £4.3m. Rebecca continued to live in the house until September 1923 when she died of senile decay aged 94.

William Harrison was an agricultural labourer who became a gamekeeper at Baddesley. With his wife Anne he had 11 children. The ‘Harrison Maids’ were females of that family who worked in the house for over 30 years. One was Annie who started her first job at the age of 13 as a scullery maid for a printer in Northfield. She came ‘home’ to Baddesley to be the cook when 25 where her aunt, Elizabeth, was the Housekeeper. Romance in the same household was frowned upon – you were married to your job – but Elizabeth married William Blake, the Butler, in 1880. They lived in the house but had no children, and William died in 1890. Two of Annie’s sisters also worked at Baddesley and there is a picture of the three with the staff at Park Farm, the estate’s largest which produced all the dairy produce for the house, but which no longer exists. Mary Harrison rose to be a housemaid by 1911, and naughtily scratched her name on two windows. Her brother John farmed Yew Tree Farm, which still exists although much gentrified, and was also the local carrier. Other brothers worked as gardeners or labourers.

Charles Hancock (1850-1913) was born illegitimate in Ledbury workhouse. Initially an agricultural labourer, he moved into service and in due course became a footman to Sir William Petre (1817-84) at Ingatestone Hall in Essex. Charles moved frequently between Roman Catholic families and was at Worsbrough Hall near Barnsley with the Martin-Edmunds family. He had married Annie Jewell on 11 September 1877 and they had five children. He went to work for Sir Henry Ripley at Rawdon Hall near Bradford, and lived at Craggy Bottom Cottages. But when Charles moved again, Annie set up a separate home in Kent for the children c1882 and worked as a laundress. Local houses sent her laundry, as did the Martin-Edwards family and even Charles himself – such was the efficiency of the postal service. She died aged 38 in 1890 of heart disease due to ‘over-exertion’. Charles, now in London, placed the children (the eldest then 13) with two local families, one for reach sex. By 1891 Charles was a ‘Gentleman’s Gentleman’ for Sir Henry Chilton, a widowed architect in Kensington. Then he moved to Breedon Hall, Leicestershire, to be a coachman. This was a great step down but he was able to take his children with him. He came to Baddesley in 1905 and appeared there in the 1911 Census; this was the first to be filled in by the householder and Rebecca put him first and herself last !

The Harrison family is still connected with Baddesley. John is a room guide. Jem, a descendent of Thomas who had emigrated to the USA in 1875, visited from San Francisco with his wife Laura. His sister Gail came from the USA in December 2017 to celebrate her 70^th Birthday at Baddesley. Her son, with his young children, also came over, as he did for a great Harrison family reunion in 2018. All expressed great pleasure in having their roots at Baddesley Clinton.

In the questions/comments that followed, it was explained which servants slept in the house; the coachman, stable boys and gardeners lived in the stables. The Poor Clares had left their convent in Baddesley village and about six years ago number of Rebecca’s paintings which they had been given were auctioned: two returned to the house.

SOLIHULL and THE HAPSBURGS

Talk given by Ian Sinclair on 17 September 2018 to Solihull Local History Circle

Notburga Tilt (1923-2015) was a remarkable lady who lived in Olton from 2004 up until her death. She was a member of the large Hapsburg family and married five times. Born in Austria, she joined the Austro/Czech Freedom Fighters against the Nazis at the age of 15. On one occasion she hid in her aunt’s cellar where, desperately hungry, she ate a goldfish. She was imprisoned several times and early in 1945 was tortured by the Gestapo. After the war she became an opera singer and was a friend of Franz Lehar. Her first marriage was to a stormtrooper who was killed in the war; the second was to an Austrian doctor; and the third to Fred, a Staff Serjeant in the British Army of Occupation, whom she used to get to England and afterwards divorced. Husband number four was Wing Commander Edward Tilt, RAF, by whom she had a daughter, Nina, who still lives locally. After Tilt’s death she married a Mr Cheetham. She and her daughter attended Solihull Methodist Church regularly. She wrote three books between 1972 and 2001, and appeared on This is Your Life.

Her cousin was Archduke Marcus von Hapsburg, born in Austria in 1948, the eleventh child of Archduke Hubert (1894-1974) who, through his mother, was a grandson of the Emperor Franz Joseph. Marcus is married with two sons and one daughter and lives at Kaiserville, Bad Ischl where Franz Joseph signed the declaration of war against Serbia in 1914. Marcus came on a visit to Solihull a few years ago. The day prior to his arrival, he had lunched with his cousin the Duke of Edinburgh, and then he found himself, a fervent Roman Catholic like all his forbears, at a religious lunch at Solihull Methodist Church.

Between 1848, the year of revolutions across Europe, and 1918 the Hapsburgs were beset with tragedies. Originally Swiss, Count Rudolph became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1273, the title changing in 1806 to Emperor of Austria. The empire was vast and included Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Galicia, Transylvania and Bosnia; its capital was Vienna. The Hapsburg arms of a single headed eagle should not be confused with the double headed eagle of the Romanoffs. In 1848 Hungary was in revolt and Franz Joseph, aged 18, succeeded as Emperor on the abdication of his uncle. He reformed government and reigned for 68 years. He married the beautiful Elizabeth of Bavaria, known as Sisi (sister of ‘mad’ King Ludwig) in 1854 and they had four children. Her behaviour became eccentric and she left home to wander Europe before being assassinated in 1898.

Their son Rudolph born in 1858 killed his lover, Maria Vetsera, and then himself, at Mayerling in 1889. Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), the nephew of Franz Joseph and his heir apparent, was assassinated with his wife by a Serb in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Austria-Hungary declar4ed war on Serbia, and this brought on WWI. Franz Joseph died in the Schonbrunn Palace (where he had been born) near Vienna in November 1916. He was succeeded by Charles (1887-1922), the last Emperor who resigned in 1918.

WAR & WORSHIP, CASTLE & CHURCH

Talk given by Jan Cooper on 16 April 2018 to Solihull Local History Circle

Geoffrey de Clinton, Treasurer to Henry I, was granted land from the Royal Manor of Stoneleigh to build a castle, and a priory, at Kenilworth in 1119, partly to counterbalance Warwick Castle whose baron was rebellious. The Priory housed black cloaked Augustinian Canons, all ordained, who went out to take services in neighbouring churches and hence were popular with landowners; Maxstoke and Studley were other Augustinian houses. Two large ponds were provided near the castle in which the canons could fish on Thursdays. The Prior had both religious and secular duties: he acted as Lord of the Castle when the latter was absent, and, amongst other things, collected the relevant taxes.

By the 13^th century, when King John was having trouble with the barons, he spent £1,100 between 1205-15 improving the defences of Kenilworth. The keep was heightened by 30ft, the associated wooden buildings were replaced by stone, the curtain walls were built with towers on the north and east sides as elsewhere the fish ponds had been turned into a Mere with a heightened dam to raise the water level. Henry III gave the castle to his sister Eleanor who was married to the Frenchman Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and they lived there with their family. But Simon fell out with the King and captured him at the Battle of Lewes in May 1264. In 1265 a Parliament was called at Kenilworth which, for the first time, included knights and burgesses besides the barons and bishops. Simon was defeated, and died at the Battle of Evesham in August 1265. The King disinherited all his opponents, but the keeper of Kenilworth Castle, Sir Edward Hastings, said he would only surrender it to the Countess of Leicester, Simon’s widow.

The King laid siege to the Castle from March 1266, residing in the Priory with the Queen, both Archbishops and his Court, as well as the Papal Legate who was supposed to act as intermediary. The Castle contained approximately 1,200 people, including women and children and, having taken crops and animals from the neighbourhood, was initially well supplied. The King’s group also put great strain on local production. Negotiations failed and the rebels were excommunicated. Starvation finally forced their surrender in December 1266. The King and his Court left Kenilworth on the 15^th, leaving an impoverished Priory.

Thereafter the Castle was granted to the Earls of Lancaster. Thomas, 2^nd Earl (1298-1322), built the Water Tower and a chapel in the outer bailey. John of Gaunt (Earl 1361-99) built the magnificent Great Hall, the State Apartments and a gatehouse, besides making improvements to the Priory which was made an Abbey in 1447. Henry V spent his childhood at Kenilworth and frequently returned between campaigns; the Pleasance (since demolished) was built for him in 1418. Henry VI was a frequent visitor and Henry VIII added some structures. But the latter dissolved the monasteries, and the Abbey was surrendered on 5 April 1538. The lead from the roof, was sold, the stone used in due course for the Castle; its Missal is now in Chichester, its Cartulary in the British Library and a chair is at Halford. The land was eventually acquired by Robert Dudley, created Earl of Leicester in 1563 by Queen Elizabeth, whom he hoped to marry.

To this end he spent lavishly, improving the Castle and building a new Gatehouse. The Queen visited Kenilworth in 1566 and 1568 whilst staying at Warwick with Ambrose, Robert’s brother. In 1572 she slept at Kenilworth Castle and again in 1575, staying for 19 days when she paid three visits to St Nicholas Church. The Castle reverted to the Crown after Robert fell out of favour, and James I gave it to Henrietta Maria, his daughter-in-law. After the Civil War, in which it played little part, it was ‘slighted’ and the Mere drained. The Castle is now owned by English Heritage. The Abbey ruins were excavated and recorded in the 1920s, but were covered up again in 1963. They are owned by the Kenilworth District Council.

REV. CHARLES EVANS, RECTOR of SOLIHULL 1872 – 1894

Talk given by Joy Woodall on 19 March 2018 to Solihull Local History Circle

Charles Evans was born in Coventry in 1824 and educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham. The School had been rebuilt, to a design by Barry & Pugin who had designed the Houses of Parliament, in 1837 in New Street. It also had a new Headmaster, the Rev. Dr James Lee, who had served under Dr Arnold of Rugby. Charles had some distinguished contemporaries, including Edward Benson (who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883), Joseph Lightfoot (Bishop of Durham 1879), and Brooke Westcott with whom Charles started the School Magazine and who later was also Bishop of Durham from 1890. In mathematics, only arithmetic was taught in the school, and it is thought that Charles was tutored outside in algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

In 1843 Charles went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, on a scholarship. He was Craven Scholar in 1846 and obtained his BA as Senior Optime in 1847. He was advanced to MA in 1850 and later became a Fellow of his College. Charles was appointed Asst. Master at Rugby in 1848, serving under Dr Tait (who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1868), the same year that Dr Lee became the first Bishop of Manchester. Charles married the latter’s daughter that year and was ordained a Deacon.

He was appointed Headmaster of Clifton College in 1861, but was then offered the headship of his own school, which he preferred. He was very successful there, adding science to the curriculum, expanding numbers and inaugurating Speech Day. His memory of people and facts was amazing. His first son, Charles, had been born in 1854 and by the time of the 1871 Census he had five sons; his household included 10 servants.

In 1863 Charles bought land in Lode Lane, Solihull, on which he engaged J.A.Chatwin (architect to the King Edward Foundation and an old boy of the School) to design him a house which he called The Hermitage. He moved in by 1868, but probably only for brief stays as the 1871 Census recorded the family still living in the Headmaster’s house in New Street. In the field behind The Hermitage Charles had a circular observatory built in which to house his telescope.

The Rev. Patrick Smythe, Rector of Solihull, died in 1872. The advowson of the parish had been sold to Thomas Walker of Berkswell two years previously, and he appointed Charles as the new Rector. Charles and his family left The Hermitage to live in the Rectory. The parish was large, covering some 12,300 acres, with a population of 4,000. It was divided into seven ‘Ends’ (later 10), chiefly for the maintenance of highways, each with a surveyor (since 1623), which survived until 1886. After the dissolution of the Chantry of St Alphege, the funds that had been devoted to its upkeep were vested in 10 Feoffees who, headed by the Parish Bailiff, regulated the parish finances. The Feoffees established the Grammar School for boys in 1560 at Malvern House, and in 1812 applied Miss Palmer’s bequest to a new school for girls and infants in Old School Lane. An 1834 Act had created a Board of Guardians to oversee the welfare of the poor. This body in collaboration with 10 other parishes had built the Union Workhouse in 1838. In 1872 it became the Solihull Rural Sanitary Authority, adding drainage and sewerage to its responsibilities.

Charles found St Alphege Church in poor condition; ivy covered its walls and the stonework had been adversely affected. He closed the nave for 15 months whilst it was reroofed, the ivy removed, the organ transferred to the south transept so that the gallery at the west end of the church could be dismantled and the window seen. New pews were installed. The whole project cost less than £3,000. With the coming of the railway and the opening of Solihull Station in 1852, the population began to grow and a mission church, with school, was opened in Bentley Heath in 1870. There was a chapel of ease at Balsall Common, and in 1879 Charles persuaded Mr Gillot of New Berry Hall to pay for the building of Catherine-de-Barnes chapel/school.

Charles was much more considerate of his parishioners than his predecessors, and was particularly keen on education. The 1870 Act had introduced education for children from 5 to 13 years old, but they were often taken away to work by their parents – especially in the summer – so the 1880 Act made school compulsory. In 1872 Mr Gillot was persuaded to buy land for a boys school in Mill Lane: the total cost, including building, was £2,198. It was designed for 100 boys divided into three classes aged 5-9, 9-11, and 11-14. The Master taught Monitors who in turn taught the other boys. The charge was 1d a day. The 1892 Act made education free. There had been a number of private schools in Solihull for at least a century but by 1890 only one, run by Mrs Edwards, was left. Solihull Grammar School was given its own Board of Governors by the Feoffees in 1879 and Charles became a Governor. He was the Board’s Chairman in 180 until his retirement as Rector. The School moved into its new building in Warwick Road (cost £4,022) in June 1882.

In 1880 he started the Parish Magazine which contained not only details of church services, but reports on events and local societies, social announcements, and articles on local history. Its price was 2d and it circulated widely. Charles became President in 1883 of the newly formed Solihull Literary Society which arranged lectures by prominent men and had discussions. The same year he opened the Working Men’s Reading Room in the Maltshovel (now Missoula), where books were supplied, readings and even singing were on offer. The Town Hall in St Alphege Churchyard on The Square was demolished in 1879 (for £12) and replaced by a new Public Hall (now Wetherspoons) built in 1876 for £2,500 in Poplar Road. Charles was prominent in getting Church House built in Drury Lane next to Touchwood Hall in 185: Mrs Brown was its caretaker for many years. The large garden attached to the Rectory was regularly used for functions.

There were many local groups doing good works, many of which Charles encouraged. The Ladies Charity raised money for the deserving poor; The Nursery Fund helped infants, and the Sewing Group (with 50 members) made garments for the poor. Money was raised for Mrs Evans’ Convalescent Home for Children which opened in 1881 (at a cost of £1,200) in Widney Manor Road (now occupied by Nos 50 & 51A). There were also a number of Friendly Societies for men, including the Oddfellows, and the Caledonian Corks which met at the Royal Oak.

In 1894 Charles, having been made a Canon, retired to Poole in Dorset. He died in 1904 aged 80.

CAVALIER DOGS and ROUNDHEAD ROGUES

Talk given by Mary Bodfish on 19 February 2018 to the Solihull Local History Circle

Charles I was convinced that Kings ruled by divine right, was an inept politician and ran an expensive Court. He attempted to tax without consulting Parliament, which was not summoned between 1629 and 1640. There were three forces at this time: the King v Parliament, Anglicans v Puritans, and economic factors. Not all Parliamentarians were Puritans, but all Puritans were Parliamentarians. Generally the landed gentry supported the King and townsfolk supported Parliament. Birmingham and the Black Country produced swords and guns, and all went to Parliament. Thomas Parkes, an ironmaster of Smethwick, gave £20 to the cause. Thomas Levison, a Royalist and Roman Catholic, sent his suit of armour to be repaired by Mr Tanner, who refused to return it to him, and was struck by Levison with a stick.

Charles raised his standard on 22 August 1642 at Nottingham Castle, and then moved via Derby and Stafford on his way to Oxford. Charles spent two night with Colonel Levison near Wolverhampton and then moved on to Aston Hall to stay with Sir Thomas Holte. The Birmingham men captured the Royal baggage train and took it to Warwick Castle, held by Parliamentarians.

Prince Rupert, the King’s nephew aged 23, was appointed General of Horse. He was to meet the King at Solihull in early 1642 but on the way there had a skirmish at Kings Norton. The Parliamentarians said afterwards that they had killed 50 Royalists but this was propaganda and no burials were recorded in the parish registers. It is thought that the King passed through Solihull on the way to stay with Lord Leigh. On 23 October the Battler of Edgehill was fought with no winner, and the King continued towards London. Queen Henriette Maria, a Roman Catholic, had asked the ladies at Court to donate their jewellery to the cause, and she left England with it to raise cash in the Netherlands. She returned to Bridlington and stayed in York during the winter before moving south in spring 1643. She had 3,000 mercenary artillery men and 30 companies of horse.

Meanwhile Col. Levison had moved to garrison Dudley Castle from Wolverhampton. Sir William Brereton then took the town for Parliament; Lichfield already had a Puritan garrison. On 2 April 1643 Prince Rupert moved up the Stratford Road but was barred entry to Birmingham by a barricade at Deritend. This was outflanked by Lord Denby who pursued the Parliamentarians to Kemp’s Hill (now Cape Hill, Smethwick), where they stood their ground. In the ensuing skirmish Lord D00enby was killed, but his son was a Parliamentary horseman. Prince Rupert’s troops entered Birmingham to drink, rape and pillage; a third pf the town was destroyed by fire. Afterwards the King rebuked the Prince, who went on to take Lichfield.

The Queen proceeded through Burton-on-Trent and Walsall (Rushall Hall). To avoid Birmingham she then went via Smethwick and Harborne to Kings Norton, a royal manor, where she stayed one night in Bailiff’s House, now The Saracen’s Head. The Puritan Vicar was ‘roughed up’ by her troops, who stripped the lead from, the church roof. She then went to Stratford to met up with Prince Rupert.

Col. John Fox established Parliament’s Company of Horse. He took Edgbaston in October 1643 and his men then stripped the lead for ammunition from the church roof. After Sir Thomas Holte had asked for Royalist troops to protect Aston Hall, Fox advanced to arrive on Christmas Day. Over the following days the Hall was sacked and the church attacked; the Holte estates were confiscated. In May 1644 Col. Fox and 2^nd Lord Denby besieged Dudley Castle, but after three weeks were repulsed by Royalists.

The marauding troops of both sides were causing much damage to buildings, and eating the produce from the fields. Farm lands were neglected and both sides demanded taxers. Robert Wilmot of Smethwick was responsible for Parliament’s Staffordshire money, and his accounts survive. At one point he had collected £54-1-4d but on counting it found he had only £22-11-0d. His integrity was believed and he was pardoned. On 14 June 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax beat Prince Rupert at the Battle of Naseby, which marked the beginning of the end for the Royalists.

In 1646 Col. Levison ordered the demolition of St Edmund’s Church in Dudley to protect the castle. Sir William Brereton arrived from Lichfield, but his Shropshire Foot soldiers had not been paid for several weeks and refused to attack the Castle. Sir William went off to Birmingham to get some cash whilst his troops ‘rested’ in the ruined Dudley Priory. In the Castle Dorothy Beaumont, wife of the second-in-command, gave birth; but the baby died. She herself died a few weeks later, and Sir William – now returned – allowed safe passage to St Thomas’s Church at the far end of the town for the burial, though this was not recorded in the parish registers. Today there is a pub named The Grey Lady after Dorothy’s ghost was said to inhabit the ruined castle (it surrendered on 13 May 1646) and move between her grave and that of her baby. In the annual Dudley Pageant there is a coffin race.

As a postscript, Smethwick Old Church was built in 1728 with money from Dorothy Parkes, grand-daughter of Thomas, the ironmaster of Parliamentary swords. The Church Trustees, founded in 1732, still administer his funds. In the discussion after the talk, mention was made of the extreme Puritans meeting in the 1630s in Broughton Castle (near Banbury), headed by Lord Saye & Sele, and Lord Brooke of Warwick. The Greswolds of Solihull were also involved before they went to Connecticut and founded Sayebrook.

THE HISTORY of DORRIDGE

Talk given by Elaine Warner on 15 January 2018 to the Solihull Local History Circle

The map of Knowle Manor c 1850 showed a country side of farms where Dorridge (ridge inhabited by wild animals) is today. Some still survive like Norton Green, but the original Blue Lake House (used for Dissenters’ meetings in the 17^th century) was demolished in 1963. Bentley Farm in Mill Lane was moated: opposite was the Windmill, built c 1820, and converted to steam in the 1880s when it lost its sails. Much of the land was owned by G.F.Muntz I who had made his fortune from ‘Muntze’s Metal’ a brass alloy, and lived at Umberslade. The roads had different names from today. Muntz allowed the Birmingham-Oxford Railway to be built and sold land for the station, on condition that a London express train stopped there daily which he could use. This continued until 1948. Knowle Station opened on 1 October 1852. Later it was renamed Knowle & Dorridge and then in 1862 reverted to Knowle. It was rebuilt in the 1930s and is now called Dorridge. A railway village grew up gradually from c10-20 people in the 1890s around the station. The Forrest Hotel was built in 1866 with its bowling green (and telephone number Knowle 1 when it arrived in the 1890s), where Muntz could dine/stay before returning to Umberslade, and a row of shops on Station Approach. These included the Post Office opened in 1885.

From 1852 to 1918 businessmen from Birmingham moved out into the area, including the Jacques family whose son was a photographer, now highly valued. Mr Muntz bought more land to the south of the railway in 1876 after the death of John Stubbs, a neighbouring landowner, and land to the north before his death in 1896. His son, G.F.Muntz II allowed development. In 1878 two estates for villas were laid out; in Arden Road those included the three story Bankford and in Knowle Grove there was Hillside. Four large semi-detached houses were built at the south end of Station Road. At their rear were the Brickyard Cottages, known as the Rabbit Hutches. Avenue Road, then called Warwick Road, appeared in 1904. In 1910 the train to London took two hours (the same as today) and during WWI the Red Cross operated in the Old Church Room.

Besides The Forrest, Dorridge had a number of inns all of which had served the railway navvies. The Vine, pictured in 1866, closed in 1930 and became the Midland Bank. On Four Ashes Road The Drum & Monkey was originally called The White Lion; a new sign made the lion look like a monkey, hence the change in name. The Railway Tavern at the corner of Windmill Lane with Grange Road was the furthest from the railway.

The original North Packwood brick mission church of 1878 remains as the nave of St Philip’s, for which the land cost £100 gifted by Philip Wykeham-Marten of Packwood. A grander church was begun in 1894 by J.A.Chatwin with a lofty stone chancel, The Church Hall was originally not on church land to avoid future financial commitments. The Vicarage, also in Manor Road, was replaced by W.H.Bidlake in 1928. The parish was separated from Knowle in 1966. The Roman Catholics met in a chapel in John Hardman’s garden from 1905. He was the fourth generation head of the famous firm making ecclesiastical metal work and stained glass. Their first church of 1917, dedicated to St George & St Theresa, was destroyed by fire in 1934 and immediately rebuilt. The Methodists met in a terrapin hut on what had been Bentley’s Farm in Mill Lane in the 1960s, which was replaced on site by a brick church in 1963.

There was great expansion between 1918 and 1945, especially along The Avenue and Dorridge Road to the east of the station and along Widney Road and Mill Lane to the north. More shops established themselves up Station Road. The coal merchants moved from the canal wharf to yards around the station. Horse boxes also arrived there but the horses were always walked to Shirley Racecourse as exercise after the train journey. The livestock market was held every Wednesday at the canal wharf. Sometimes cattle were driven down Manor Road and, on one occasion, ate all the flowers and young shrubs besides snacking on the grass.. New businesses appeared, eg Dorridge Press on Blue Lake Road, but Mr Low was still the water carrier – though a van had replaced his horse. Pitts taxi at the station was still horse-drawn. Dr Hilditch was Dorridge’s first doctor; he was also a keen fox hunter. A Scout group was formed in 1920. The Midlands Counties Institution had opened in 1866 and provided for 300 mentally challenged patients. It had great support from locals particularly after WWI and at one time was advertised as ‘for middle class idiots’. It evolved into Middlefield Hospital and was taken over by the NHS in 1948, but was closed in 1994 when Government policy placed the patients into the community and the site was redeveloped as housing.

After WWII there was more development with Victorian and Edwardian villas being demolished and replaced by more manageable houses, which also covered their large gardens. Grange Road, south of the station was also developed and old farm buildings converted into private houses. Children had always gone to school in either Bentley Heath or Knowle, but Dorridge School opened in 1955 and Arden, a Secondary Comprehensive now an Academy, in 1958. That year also saw The Square built on Truelove’s coal yard, although before that Evesons had taken over the business. In 1950 the Maraki, an upmarket car selling at £1,300, was built in the village: only 15 were ever made. Dorridge Park opened in 1969.

SLHC MEMBERS’ ILLUSTRATED TALKS : 18 DECEMBER 2017

PACKWOOD HALL by TREVOR ENGLAND

Packwood was not mentioned in Domesday but a settlement started as a result of transhumance from Wasperton in the Avon valley whose villagers came to collect wood in the Forest of Arden. This led to assarting – the taking in of waste land – which was done piecemeal. The population of England increased from 2.5 million in the 12^th century to 5 million in the 14^th, just before The Black Death in 1349. During this time 6,000 farmhouses were surrounded by moats, the majority across the Midlands. In many instances these were for defensive purposes, but a growing number were for prestige. The Benedictine Priory of Coventry held both Wasperton and Packwood whose church – dedicated to St Giles – was built in 1300. A document of 1410 recorded Packwood as a Manor with a Great Wood, consisting of three groves, with a Steward and a Bailiff.

The Hall dates from the early 16^th century and stands in an area of 84 x 58 metres, surrounded by a moat 12 metres wide, though whether for defensive purposes or otherwise in unknown. The church on the Hall’s east side originally could only be approached by a bridge over the moat. The H plan of the Hall was covered with a brick skin in the 19^th century, but the original timbering is still exposed at the rear of the north wing. The clustered chimney stacks, but not their tops, are original, as are the lines of the roof. The barge boards and the extensions are Victorian.

The Cornwallis family were Lords of the Manor and may have occupied the Hall. Lady Jemima (d 1836), the daughter of the 5^th and last Earl, married Charles Wykeham-Martin. Their son, Philip, (1829-78), was the Liberal MP for Rochester and became Lord of the Manor. That family continued as Lords until the final member, having no heirs, gave his tenants the land they rented. Except for one – because she was female. Sir Charles Burman, the youngest Lord Mayor of Birmingham 1947-49, Chairman of Tarmac and High Sherriff of Warwickshire in 1958, lived at Packwood Hall. His wife, Ursula known as Squirrel, gave extra land to the churchyard when it became full. She died aged 98 in September 2012, but had moved out of the Hall in 1986 when it was bought by Richard Lacey, the CEO of National Home Loans. The Hall was Listed Grade II in February 1990 (the church is Grade II*). The present owners are Mr & Mrs Lamb who opened the gardens on one day in 2017 in aid of St Giles Church (raising £1,500).

AROUND SOLIHULL: a HISTORY using OLD POST CARDS by Edna Handley

The photographs had been coloured to make postcards. Their cost had varied between 10p and £52. The bracketed year dates the card.

Church Hill (1914) had banks on both sides of the sunken lane. Rectory Farm (1907) showed Archer Clive’s Rectory beyond, which was built in 1833 and demolished in 1933. The interior of St Alphege Church (1905) was a view of the nave looking east from the 1720 chandelier donated by Anthony Holbeche, to the wrought iron screen now across St Catherine’s Chapel. The exterior view had the spire which replaced the one which had fallen into the nave during a storm in 1857. From the tower a view of the High Street (1908) was complemented by the War Memorial (1921), and the Free School for Boys opened in 1850. The frontage of The George (1905) can be dated because the gas leak killed the wisteria later that year. At the rear, the Bowling Green was recorded in 1693 and the Yew Arbor was 600 years old.

In the High Street was Great Western Mews built in 1888 and demolished in 1932 where William Ladbroke advertised himself as a Fly Proprietor, besides providing brakes, stabling, and services for weddings and funerals. The lime trees outside what is today called The Manor House were planted in 1720 and replaced in 1914. Gordon Bragg’s Welsh uncle was shown in a pony and trap (1912). Silhill House (1903) was originally a farm which became The Swan coaching inn before being rebuilt by Thomas Chattock; it was demolished in 1925. St Augustine’s Church (1904) had been designed by Pugin in 1839. Along Blossomfield Road was Tudor Grange (1905), with a rear view depicted in a modern photograph of the painting owned by Allan Evans.

In Poplar Road were the Asembly Rooms built in 1876 for £2,500 which contained a Court Room on the ground floor. To its south was the Police house, built in 1982 to replace the former Lock up on New Road. Poplar House, which gave the road its name, was on the north side of the Warwick Road; it had 21 Lombardy poplars and was demolished in the 1930s. Beyond that was The Hermitage (1905), the home of the Rev. Charles Evans before he was appointed Rector and moved into Solihull Rectory. Olton Mill was built before 1800 and demolished in 1960 when Lode Lane was widened.

The Golden Lion (1905) in Warwick Road was rebuilt in 1935, opposite the Congregational Christ Church which lasted from 1887 to 1963. Solihull School (1906) was designed by Chatwin and built in 1879-82. Malvern Hall (1907) became the Solihull High School for Girls in 1931. Beyond the village Sandal’s Bridge, named after a 13^th century Rector, on the Warwick Road was widened in 1924. Knowle station (1908) had opened in 1852 beside one house, but the area developed quickly and George Muntz built the Forest Hotel to provide accommodation for himself if he arrived too late to go home to Umberslade Hall.

THE HISTORY of HORSE RACING in SOLIHULL & BIRMINGHAM

Talk given by Chris Pitt on 16 October 2017 to the Solihull Local History Circle

The first known local horse race took place in 1711 at Coleshill, apparently. More is known about a two day meeting on Lode Heath in 1780 (the same year as The Derby started). One race was held each day, preceded by three heats of roughly three miles. The landlord of The Holly Bush acted as Clerk of the Course, taking entries and distributing the 50 guinea prizes each day – but 45 guineas had to be returned to him for the next meeting. In the early days of horseracing the meetings were always held at a local pub because the landlord held a licence to sell alcohol, which was essential as an accompaniment to the racing and brought in cash.

Several locations around Birmingham had race meetings during the 19^th century, eg Digbeth, Handsworth (which had three courses), and many more. Women were first allowed as jockeys in 1972, but on 30 August 1880 a pony racing meeting took place in Small Heath with a £12 prize for lady riders (although these were not named); indeed several owners were probably female, but they used men’s names. Sutton Park had three courses, one of which near Four Oaks had five magnificent stands and attracted over 20,000 people at a meeting in March 1881. When Four Oaks Station was opened a road was built from it to the racecourse. The last meetings were in 1889; it was demolished a year later and is now the home of the Four Oaks Tennis Club. In 1973 Aintree was having a difficult time and was to be sold for a retail development. Following a petition Bob Burns offered to recreate the Grand National Course in Sutton Park. But the Park authorities and Sutton Coldfield Council were against the idea, so it came to nothing; moreover Aintree survived.

In 1752 Mr Blake and Mr O’Callaghan challenged each other to a direct line race between St John’s Church, Buttevant (Co. Cork) and St Mary, Doneraile, both of which had steeples. Hence the word Steeplechase. On 14 March 1836 a steeplechase was held at Barr Beacon, in which Sir Edward Scott was one of the riders. The Birmingham Steeplechase moved to Oscott (where the College is today) and then to Knowle – first 2.5 miles from Hampton Station (where William Archer rode in 1852, before winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following year) and then 0.5 miles from Dorridge Station from 1853. In 1855 it went to Aston Park, but there was a recreation of the Crimean Battle of Alma nearby. The crowd became drunk and there were no police to prevent thieving and disorder, so the jockeys refused to race. The race returned to Knowle in 1856 before going to Sutton Coldfield in 1857 where it stayed annually until 1872. In 1873-1891 it was held at Packington, where the golf course is today.

Olton had a course of 1.5 miles in 1875-80 which was a mile from the station and is now a golf course. Hall Green, recently closed for dog racing, had horse racing from 1871 to 1910 off Gospel Lane, originally run by Joseph Page of The Bull’s Head. It had two grandstands and at a meeting on a Monday in May 1902 the Birmingham Post reported a huge crowd there celebrating the end of the Boer War. The Yardley Racing Club lasted four months in 1916. It held a meeting on Billesley Common of six races for ponies, as a morale booster for troops on leave and factory workers, which was successful. So another was planned for Whitsun, to start at 3.30pm. But Lord Kitchener was drowned on 5 June and all racing (including meetings at Epsom and Newmarket) was cancelled..

Shirley had a course that held meetings from 1895 to 11 March 1940, including steeplechasing. It was revived after the war but went bankrupt in 1948. George Featherston offered to revive it the following year with an indoor sports centre within the track (approved by Solihull Council and a motor racing circuit beyond it (rejected by the Council). Racing finally finished in 1953, and were the last pony races in England. The land was sold for £19,500 to the Jewish Golf Club.

Bromford Bridge obtained a lease from the Earl of Bradford’s Estate in 1894 for a racecourse. John & Stanley Ford who had saved the Nottingham and Lincoln Courses, held their first meetings in June 1895 (flat) and December (jumps). The course was a straight mile on level ground. The Suffragettes set fire to two of the grandstands. Golden Miller which won the Cheltenham Gold Cup 1932-36, raced at Bromford twice. After WWII, during which it was bombed, racing continued and many famous jockeys appeared there, including Gordon Richards (who won a two horse race in which both jockeys had been told not to tire their mounts prior to the St Ledger, so it became the slowest race), Lester Piggott and Josh Gifford. In 1950 a grandstand had the longest bar (330ft) in the world, and famous pop stars performed on The Mound between races. Michael Lynch was a well known tipster, and there were many evening meetings. Women had free admittance and there was even a crèche for babies. All these initiatives were designed to attract people. Many came by train to Bromford Bridge Station, and in coaches from a wide area. The Queen Mother attended more than once. But the years of success faded as punters preferred to move away from the nearby factories in which they worked, and began to favour courses at places like Warwick. The City bought the land for £1.5m for residential development in which all the roads were named after horses or race courses. The final meeting was on 21 June 1965.

In the discussions that followed this much appreciated talk (no slides), mention was made of a racecourse in the 1890s off the Warwick Road near Broad Oaks, and Point to Points were raised. These were normally of three miles, lasted a day with no permanent structures, no professional jockeys were allowed to take part, and constituted valuable training for both riders and horses.

WALKS ALONG THE CANALS OF SOLIHULL

Talk by Laurence Ince on 18 September 2017 to the Solihull Local History Circle

Olton Reservoir was built in 1799, using prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, to store water for the Birmingham-Warwick Canal. It was fed by at least four streams and had earth banks until 1933 when, with the continuing spread of houses around it, these were replaced by concrete to improve safety. The controlled exit into the canal ran beneath the Warwick Road past the former blacksmith’s premises. A shop was built in 1877 which became the Congregational Church years later. In 1934 it became the premises of an organ builder and in 1991 a wedding dress showroom. The nearby wooden railway bridge was replaced with steel in the 1930s and the reservoir was made slightly smaller.

In the 1890s John Florance of 29 St Bernard’s Road, James Heaton (No 26) and three other neighbours petitioned the Canal Company to form a sailing club and to allow fishing, bathing and shooting. These residents were given direct access from their gardens to the footpath. A Clubhouse and the Reservoir Lodge for a Warden were built. In 1900 Mr Mintram, a gardener, was appointed and his wife dispensed tea for 1d to visitors. During WWII a boom was placed across the reservoir to repulse possible invaders. Nowadays a pass, with a key to unlock barriers, to walk around the reservoir (now called a mere and owned by the sailing club) costs £60 a year. There are 40 pegs for fishing; an attempt to introduce trout failed due to the depredations of herons, but carp were successful. Nude bathing took place for a brief period in the 1960s, and the drought of 1976 caused almost complete evaporation of the water.

South along the canal there were several wharves. The first was Olton, near where there is now a facility attempting to control knotweed (which grows 20cms a day), and one of many gas points which mark the passage of natural gas under the towpath. The second was Henwood where debris from the canal is landed. The Henwood Lane Bridge (No25) has grooves on the brickwork of its south side made by towing ropes on the inside of a bend. The third was Copt Heath where fuel can now be obtained, Wharf cottage used to be used for stabling horses, and opposite is Waterside Cottage from where a boat hire business is operated.

Kixley Wharf was named after a mediaeval rector of Knowle College. Knowle Wharf opened in 1800 was used for coal and has a rare surviving weighbridge (made by Pooley & Sons); it now has a thriving boat building/repair business, as well as a convenient free carpark. Knowle locks drop a total of 42ft. There used to be six, but there are now five, each with wide ponds. The two pump engine houses used to have tall chimneys but the latter had disappeared before 1930, and electricity now pumps water back up to the top of the locks. The lock machinery is marked Samuel Baker of Westminster – he was the consulting engineer, rather than the manufacturer. The present lock-keepers cottage was built, with electricity, in the 1930s to replace the original.

South of Knowle Locks was Heronfield Wharf and beyond that is a canal-side pub, the Black Boy. This was named after Charles II who was swarthy. Later it was renamed the Herons Nest and is now the Kings Arms.

The other canal in Solihull is the Stratford Canal built in stages starting in 1793 and completed in 1816. Water was supplied from three adjoining reservoirs at Earlswood, covering 85 acres, opened in 1823. As they were below the level of the canal, an Engine House was built containing a beam engine, based on the original design by Boulton & Watt. This was replaced by a hydraulic system in the 1950s. The feeder enters the canal at Lady Lane Wharf. Near Hockley Heath was a drawbridge (not a swing bridge) which is now electrically powered. At Kingswood the connection to the Birmingham-Warwick Canal was completed in 1802. The former company insisted on a lock in the connection which funnelled water into the larger canal. The continuation of the canal from Kingswood to Stratford was not started until 1812. The lock-keepers’ cottages had barrel roofs using the same curve as the tunnels (many are still visible), and the smaller iron bridges have a hole through the middle to allow the horse’s rope to pass through when canal and towpath parted – and were also cheaper. The canal’s restoration was begun immediately after WWII and was the first of a series in modernising the waterways. It was eventually completed in 1964 when the Queen Mother formally opened the link to the River Avon.

LAPWORTH, a VILLAGE on THE EDGE

Talk given by Joy Woodall on 11 April 2017 to Solihull Local History Circle

Lapworth was an uncultivated heath in mediaeval times on a watershed: streams flowed northwards to the river Blythe and thence to the Trent, whilst those in the south went towards the Avon and the Severn. There was an Iron Age hill fort, known locally as Harborough Banks (see Hannet’s map of 1860). The Romans were in the area with tile kilns south of Kingswood in 125 AD. The first written record of Lapworth (meaning the enclosure on the edge) was in 816 when the King of Mercia granted it to the Bishop of Worcester. It stood at the very edge of his diocese adjacent to the boundary with Lichfield. In 1036 the Bishop gave Lapworth to Herlwin as a reward for accompanying him when he took King Canute’s daughter to Saxony for a marriage. By 1086 three families lived on the land now owned by Herlwin’s son, Baldwin, and valued at 20 shillings.

The Marchal family were Lords of the Manor at the end on the 12^th century, and were succeeded by Henry Pippard who died in 1258. His daughter Cecily married Thomas de Bishopden, whose grandson, Sir John, had the Stone House built in 1313 to his precise specification by John Pesham of Rowington and William Hoese, mason. The house was 40ft long, 18ft wide with a room (11ft high) on each side of the central entrance; on the first floor was a ‘sovereign chamber’, 9ft high with two fireplaces and two garderobes, under a pitched roof. Sir John supplied the stone, timber (with carpenter) and the sand & lime. Completion was to be within a year. The cost was £4-3-4d. The nearby quarry was then made into a fishpond.

In 1369 the house, as well as its park and the estate, was physically divided between the daughters of Sir Hugh Brandeston who had recently died. Rose had married Sit Richard de Montfort and Agnes had married Philip de Aylesbury. Rose lived until 1427, and her daughter Margaret married Sir John Catesby. By 1480 their son, William, had regained the whole of the estate and Richard III granted him 600 more acres. But he was executed for treason in 1487 and all his lands forfeited. His son, George, managed to get all the land restored in 1495. Sir Thomas Holte purchased Lapworth in 1602, but he and his descendants preferred to live at Aston Hall. Lapworth park was divided into two farms, and like the rest of the estate was tenanted. Due to agricultural depressions many tenants could not pay their rents, and it was not until the 1770s under the Lister family that the estate began to balance its books.

The first mention of St Mary’s Church was in 1190 when it was a simple aisleless rectangle. The small Chantry Chapel on the upper floor at the west end had separate in and out staircases, but cannot be reached through the church. It was founded in 1373 by Sir Richard de Montfort. Merton College, Oxford, has held the advowson since 1275, but the Rectors were frequently absentees – like the Lords of the Manor. The Rectory, built in 1793 opposite the church but now demolished, was therefore occupied by a succession of curates (of whom the Rev Owen Bonnell stayed longest from 1750-96). There had been a school at Lapworth in 1662 and intermittently since. By 1704 it was at the end of a terrace of cottages, and operated there until 1824. Thomas Harborne of Solihull, carpenter and builder, erected a new building containing apartments for the master and parish clerk at opposite ends with the school in the middle. The cost was £1,526 which was paid off in 1833. A new school building was opened in 1990 in Kingswood Station Road.

In 1726 the Stratford Road was turnpiked, followed by the Old Warwick Road in 1766. The Stratford Canal reached Hockley Heath in 1796, but did not get to Kingswood – where the ancient pub changed its name to The Navigation - until 1802 when the link was made to the Grand Union. The canal reached Stratford in 1816. The Oxford-Birmingham Railway opened in 1852, and Kingswood Station functioned from 1854. There was confusion with Kingswood near Bristol, so its name was altered to Lapworth. It was much used by commuters from 1871 onwards, with some large houses being built eg Kingswood Grange for the Garrards, and The Terrets for Mr Shirley Palmer, a surgeon with his family. Several old farmhouses were improved. Newcomers required servants, but the highly skilled like butlers and cooks were hard to obtain. They also needed good local shops: Potterton’s the grocers on the corner of Mill Lane sold everything, with a bakery next door. There were also two excellent butchers.

The main occupation of the inhabitants was always agriculture and the trades associated with it. In 1851 there were 35 farms in the parish employing over 100 labourers. Between 1871 and 1881, a period of depression, 72% of the farms changed hands. Imports from New Zealand (lamb) and Canada (grain) had an impact, but milk production grew with greater demand from Birmingham - which also required hay for its increasing number of horses; Warwickshire cheese was highly prized. Some of the new farmers were keen on shooting and fishing. The Overton family tanyard gave its name to Tan House Farm where they lived in the 18^th century, before passing the business to John Green in the 1840s. Opposite was the Boot Inn, the oldest pub in Lapworth. The blacksmith, John Green in the 1840s, was next to the Bell Inn.

A valuable source is Joy Woodall’s book A Portrait of Lapworth, published in 1986, and available from the author at £14.95p. It includes detailed maps and delightful drawings.

SUTTON LODGE in BLOSSOMFIELD ROAD

Talk given by Ian Sinclair on 20 March 2017 to Solihull Local History Circle

Sutton Lodge is an important Victorian house and the only one in Blossomfield Road remaining in private ownership which retains its original grounds. It was built in 1859 on 1.5 acres of land leased from Henry Harvey Chattock by Joseph Ludlow.

Joseph Ludlow (1817-1890) was a land surveyor and auctioneer with his own business in Birmingham, who became a major figure in the development of railways in the Midlands and the North. He was involved in obtaining a Parliamentary Bill in 1858/9 to create the line between Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield, and then acquiring the necessary land (for £20,000). It opened on 2 June 1862 and became one of the most profitable lines per mile of track in England. Joseph sold his shares at the top of the market. The opening of the Birmingham – Oxford Railway in 1852 with a station at Solihull led to the area becoming very desirable for wealthy families. Joseph named his house after ‘his’ railway, and moved into it with his wife Maria (born at Leamington in 1828), and sons Walter (born 1857) and Henry (born 1859) both at Erdington. By the time of the 1871 Census the household also had a governess, cook, housemaid and lady’s maid.

The house was designed by John J.Bateman, architect of Cherry Street, Birmingham, and built by William Matthews. The cost estimates ranged from £1,620 to £1,925, and a completion date of 1 May 1860 was specified. The original building plans and elevations survive (in Birmingham Library). There was a basement and cellars, ground floor with outhouses (stables/coach house), and a first floor. Over the years there have been many additions and alterations to the house, and the stables have bee demolished.

Joseph Ludlow was a keen member of the North Warwickshire Hounds for 50 years, and the Boxing Day Meet in 1878 was held at Sutton Lodge. In 1880 he and his wife paid for a stained glass window (by C.E.Kempe) in St Alphege Church in memory of three of their children who had predeceased them (George 1849-67, William, and Florence 1859-75). Walter became a Brigadier General and in 1915 built a house in Widney Manor Road; he died in 1941.

Henry H.Wright acquired Sutton Lodge in 1890. The 1891 Census listed him as a managing director aged 34, his wife Alice Laura aged 21 and a daughter Alice Noel (3). He was granted approval in 1899 for large scale alterations, including a billiard room on the first floor (which still exists with its billiard table). He died in July 1900, but Mrs Wright and her daughter, with three servants, were shown in the 1911 Census as still living there. Alice Noel was a prominent member of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. In November 1914 Mrs Wright sold the freehold of Sutton Lodge to Alfred Bird, MP, who lived next door at Tudor Grange. The latter had a major three storey extension built at the Lodge.

Robert V.Howson, an iron manufacturer aged 40, moved into the house in 1915 with is wife Eva and daughter Mary (aged 1). They remained tenants of the Birds until March 1946, when the Bird Trustees sold all their land (186 acres) to Warwickshire County Council. The Howsons surrendered their lease in 1952, moved to Homer Road and died within a few years.

Sutton Lodge was used as the Solihull Institute of Further Education from 1954. For the first five years it was the original Technical College and group photographs of students survive from this period. Thereafter its focus was on art with sculpture, art and textile classes, an Art Library and a Pottery Workshop. Sutton Lodge and the adjacent educational premises were formally transferred to Solihull Council when it became a County Borough in 1964.

In 1982 Rajowski & Co Ltd bought Sutton Lodge and obtained planning permission for a change of use to ‘luxury apartments and adjacent new mews houses and bungalows’. In the event six apartments were created in the further extended house (by architects Humphreys & Goodchild of Edgbaston), and five new dwellings constructed.

THE KENILWORTH ROAD, KNOWLE

Talk given by Val Morton of Knowle LHS on 20 February 2017 to Solihull LHC

Kenilworth Road was more important than Warwick Road, leading as it did to Kenilworth Castle and Coventry. It became very wide over the centuries as people and horses avoided its mud, so that when it was resurfaced land became available on its south side which accounts for the long front gardens of the 16^th/17^th century cottages.

Along the north side of the road, the old school next to the church was founded in the 1840s by the Lord of the Manor, and rebuilt on site in 1871. It was enlarged soon afterwards to have the capacity to take 300 pupils. Girls and boys had separate entrances and playgrounds. The speaker started at the School in 1937 and showed two group photographs with 26 pupils in 1900 and 28 in 1953. Children left at 14, when state education finished, to start work. The School was replaced by a new Primary in 1966, and the building fell into decay before being sensitively altered in the 1970s with an arch to new sheltered housing behind. Next to the east were a row of houses built on land from Boars Head Farm in 1875 for £281-6-6d. No 3 became the schoolmaster’s house when it was sold for £780 in 1892. No 15 was a shop run by Miss Maisie Scragg and much patronised by the schoolchildren. It later became an off-licence, then a restaurant and was now a private house. No 17, Jubilee House, with an 1897 commemorative plaque was the Police Serjeant’s house, No 19 was the Police Station and No 21 was the Constable’s house. The latter three houses were built when the Boars Head was demolished. Yew Tree Cottage dated frim the 17th century and was originally a single property. It was converted into three dwellings, Nos 29-33, and each had its separate wash-house at the rear; there was a communal built-in water heater with a fire underneath, and a communal pump. The barn of Golden End Farm was in Kixley Lane and was now a private house. Far End Cottage in the Lane dated from the 18^th century and was lived in by the Wilcox family after they moved out of Grimshaw Hall. Now painted yellow, it has a ghost and a fine garden. Golden End Cottage was 17th century, and by 1853 was used as a forge. It was well restored just before WWII.

On the south side of Kenilworth Road opposite the church was originally the village green on a triangle formed by Wilson’s Road leading to the High Street. Now occupied by Berrow Cottage Homes built in 1885 and a number of frontages directly on to the Road. No 16 Warwick House (built 1890) became a haberdasher’s shop, whose owner also ran a well patronised servants’ register. Her two daughters were known as Miss In and Miss Out, the former running the shop which had an open fire at its centre. The Nook next door was a tiny cottage whose door went straight into the kitchen; there were two bedrooms upstairs. It was occupied in WWII by the Allen family who had eight children. In Belor House lived the father of the brilliant Henry Belor, who served as church organist for over 25 years. Clutton’s Cottage (1891 when it sold for £385) was the home of the man who had the market garden alongside. This was turned into allotments in 1951 and then had 22 Berrow Charity Cottages built on it in 1977. At the junction with Wilson’s Road was the village pound, opposite the Boars Head Farm/Pub.

Milverton Farm was demolished in the 1960s. It had been run by the Glover family in the 1800s, then the Chinns until 1920, before the Tayntons came and developed the dairy. At the rear were the stables which survived into the 1970s and was where Woodfields, the blacksmith and wheelwrights, had their business. Eva Wootton, who wrote the History of Knowle, painted Milverton Farm in 1945. The Knowle Service Station was built next to the farm in the 1950s and now sold Jet petrol; behind it the Fletchers ran a coach business. The site of Milverton Farm was now occupied by Cook’s Close, named after the founder of the Guild of St Anne, with its Guild House next to the church, in 1412/13.

No 50 was occupied by Ernest Harwood, the village barber. Nos 72--78 dated from Tudor times and were the oldest in the community. Nos 88-90 were built in the 1690s by Richard Grimshaw, and were now owned by the Knowle United Charities, as were Nos 96-98. The Manor House never served as such. It was the original village school up to the 1840s. The schoolmasters from 1721 were Thomas Treherne who was followed by his son, also Thomas who died in 1800. They have a fine mural tablet with a lifelike skull in the church. One of their pupils from 1779-1783 was the Warwick born Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864), the famous writer. The house served as a lodge to Knowle Hall. In its rear garden was a pair of gatepiers to the Hall – wide enough for a sedan chair but not for a coach and horses. Much altered c1900, it became a private school run by Miss Tangye, and later a school named Sunnymount. A picture of it dating from 1952 showed it had been further altered in the 1930s.

The Grand Union Canal opened in 1799 and Knowle had a coal wharf on its west bank immediately below the Kenilworth Road Bridge. A lime kiln was shown alongside the wharf. The five locks alter the water level by 42 ft. The tall chimney of the pumping station was demolished in 1933. Beyond the canal was Knowle Hall, originally Tudor built on the remains of a moated manor house dated to c1194. The Grevilles acquired it and the Lordship of the Manor when they were ennobled as Lords Brooke in 1623 by James I. They became Earls of Warwick in 1759. The house was enlarged in the 1660s by 5^th Lord Brooke. Leased out from the 1720s, it and the Lordship of the Manor was sold by the family in 1743, and gradually decayed. William Wilson commissioned a new house in 1834, but it was never built owing to his many extravagances; he sold the estate but retained the Lordship. The present house dated from 1849. Home Farm to its south was held by the Daly family from 1863 to 1966; they became auctioneers. The Everitt family bought the Lordship in 1870 and held it until Horace Everitt’s death in 1982. It was sold to the Thompsons for £5,000, and later to the Philips – who have now offered it for sale at £7,750.

Springfield House further along the Kenilworth Road was built for Richard Morland by Joseph Bonomi in 1790. To its north the elegant bridge over the River Blythe was designed by Sir John Soane. The Boultbees bought the estate in 1798 and broke it up in 1904, when Springfield Farm dating from the 1560s was sold to its occupants. George Jackson bought the House for £20,000: it was he who restored the Guild House. The Jacksons moved to Somerset in 1939 and the House was requisitioned in 1941. In 1946 it was sold with 90 acres to the City of Birmingham. It almost became a teachers’ training college in 1950 (Marymount was chosen instead), but it has since served as a school for pupils with special needs.

PARISH RECORDS

Talk given by Liz Palmer on 16 January 2017 to Solihull Local History Circle

Parish Registers were instituted in 1538 by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Vicar General, “to avoid disputes relating to title,” etc. The incumbent of each Anglican church, in the presence of the two churchwardens each Sunday, had to enter the baptisms, marriages and burials which had taken place during the week. The 1598 Act dictated that the entries should be made on parchment (since paper had proved to be too flimsy) and all entries from the start had to be copied on to the new material. The documents were to be kept in a parish chest which should have three keys. Each Bishop would take a transcript of the records.

Solihull Registers survive from 1538, as do those of Elmdon. Bickenhill and Tanworth-in-Arden date from 1558; Castle Bromwich from 1601, Meriden 1646, and Knowle 1651. The first entry for Solihull baptisms was Anne Preston on 27 August 1539 (since the first two pages of the register were missing); for marriages, Anthony Welde & Joanna Shaw on 10 November 1538; and for burials, Isabell Fowle on 11 November 1538. Each was a simple entry with no parents’ names, addresses, occupations or ages. In the late 19^th century County Record and Parish Register Societies began to be formed which transcribed the documents with indices by name and place, and published them for subscribers. Solihull’s were published in 1904, edited by the Rev’d Harvey Brooks, the Rector.

The Civil War and its aftermath was a time of confusion. In 1653 Oliver Cromwell appointed officers called Parish Registers to keep the records in Civil Registers. Marriages could not take place in church, but were made by declaration to the Parish Register. After 1660 Anglican priests had to conduct marriages but not necessarily in church. Many were held in London’s debtor prisons where impecunious clergy resided: an example of such a marriage was Edward Twist of Solihull in 1719.

Lord Hardwick’s Marriage Act of 1753 regularised marriages, which had to be conducted by a priest in the parish church after banns had been called on three successive Sundays beforehand. Parents’ consent was necessary for anybody marrying under the age of 21. Pre-printed registers were introduced with the signatures of the minister, bride, groom and two witnesses – but there was no column for ages. Jews and Quakers were exempted, apparently because their records already met the new standards. The first entry with the new format in Solihull’s register dated from 12 May 1754. In 1812 George Rose’s Parochial Registers Act introduced a pre-printed format for baptisms and burials, and age at burial had to be recorded.

Civil Registration began on 1 July 1837 for births, marriages and deaths (NB not baptisms or burials). The occupation of the father was now shown on birth and marriage entries. Two copies were made, one held locally and the other went to the General Register Office. Sometimes the local records also held notices of banns, stillbirths, churchings (40 days after giving birth; the last entry for Solihull was 1962), besides baptisms, confirmations and burials.

The Parish Chest not only contained the church registers, but also lists of the names of the churchwardens, overseers of the poor, constables, surveyors of the highways, ratepayers, and the militia. Quite frequently churchwardens’ accounts and constables’ records were also there. Many records related to paupers, eg Poor Relief, illegitimate children and parish apprentices.

SLHC MEMBERS’ ILLUSTRATED TALKS : 19 DECEMBER 2016

BROADACRE, by TREVOR ENGLAND

Broadacre is on the west side of Grange Road in Packwood Gullet, Dorridge, close to the original Marlpit Farm which was rented by the Tallis family for many years. In 1900 John Elwell bought six acres from the landlord and in 1906 built the present house (called Sunningdale) and its lodge. He died in 1910 and was buried in Packwood churchyard. The property passed through various hands who increased its acreage, including Richard Curtis of Harborne who named it Broadacre, before it was bought in 1942 by John Woolman.

He was a great gardener, who was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society which awarded him its prized Victoria Medal. He exhibited pelargoniums annually at the Chelsea Flower Show. He opened the gardens to the public and the annual chysanthemum displays attracted coachloads of people from as far away as East Anglia and the North. John was a distant relation of the Woolmans who used to have a garden centre in Sharman’s Cross Road, Shirley. After his death in 1973, much of the garden was landscaped with fine lawns and trees: the two lakes, in the original marlpit, had always been a feature and one had an attractive boat house.

He was succeeded by his son Jack who, with his wife Enid, continued with the garden. They had two Great Dane dogs – Winston and Emma. They were great benefactors of Packwood Church, which they attended and where they are buried. Their younger son, Charlie, and his wife Cecile now live in the house and were present for this talk. They said that the garden was being developed and recently bat boxes had been installed: it was always open on the third Sunday in April. (In 2017 that will be Easter Sunday.) The Woolmans take their produce to local markets, including Bentley Heath.

THE M & B BREWERY FIRE STATION at CAPE HILL, by PETER LYNN

Henry Mitchell kept The Crown in Abbey Road, Smethwick, where he brewed his own beer. He retired in 1861 and was succeeded by his son, another Henry, who developed a light mild ale which was also supplied to other pubs – hence a tied house estate was developed. In 1868 Henry built a brewery, but in 1878 he acquired 14 acres on Cape Hill in Smethwick where Scamel & Colyer, London architects, designed a new brewery for him in a fine Victorian style.

William Butler was a hairdresser’s assistant and a part time barman at The Crown Inn in Broad Street, Birmingham. There he met Mary Ewing from Dunbarton, and they married at Carrs Lane in 1866. They then kept the London Tavern in Smethwick for 10 years before moving back to Broad Street to buy The Crown. In 1898 the two families combined to form Mitchell & Butlers to serve ‘the best beer in good pubs’. By 1914 the Cape Hill facility covered 90 acres with an internal railway and a cricket ground. Henry had insisted that No 2 Brewery be built separate from No 1 to reduce fire risk: this foresight was fully justified when the latter was completely destroyed by fire in 1986.

Henry formed the brewery fire brigade in 1882: it had two men and a fire truck. It grew to 16 men and competed in competitions before Henry died in 1895 aged only 32. From before WWI it went outside the brewery site to deal with fires in the surrounding community, and in 1927 a new fire station was opened, designed by Spencer Wood. The speaker, when first employed by M&B for £2-17-6d per week, had earned an extra 2/6d per week for being a volunteer fireman. At its height the Company had employed 38,000 people and owned 2,000 pubs. Cape Hill brewery was closed in 2002, and now all that remains on the site is the fire station and the cricket ground.

ROBERT LADBROKE and his FAMILY, by KEN HEWITT

The Revd Robert Ladbroke was Rector of Solihull 1648 – 1654. Born in 1598 in Warwickshire, he was a ‘pleb’ (ie not from a clerical family or the gentry) at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he entered in 1618. He graduated in 1621 and became an MA in 1624. He was inducted as Vicar of Wolverton (Bucks) in 1632 from where he came to Solihull, which had been sequestered by the Assembly of Divines – an organisation with Presbyterian leanings which was active in those troublesome times. Robert Ladbroke died in 1655 and had a memorial on the floor of the chancel in St Alphege, with two coats of arms. One showed the Ladbroke arms impaled with those of Smallbrook, his first wife Bridget (baptised 1594) being of the latter family. The second showed the Farmer arms of his second wife, Lettice (baptised 1615). Robert had three sons – Edward, William (baptised 1651) and Robert (baptised 1653). The last married Anne (died 1707) and they had a son, Richard (1682-1731).

Richard’s first cousin was Robert (1675-1730), whose son Sir Robert Ladbroke (1713-1773) became very rich and was Lord Mayor of London. He married Elizabeth Brown in 1734 and they had three sons and four daughters. Elizabeth died in 1768. The Ladbroke family had grown very large and there were arguments over inheritances – to such an extent that the Revd Robert’s memorial was removed to London as evidence in a court case. It was later returned to Solihull Church and was then screwed to the floor.

The family eventually died out. James Weller took the Ladbroke name when marrying into the family in order to gain the inheritance, but he died without issue. The large estate in many parts of England was sold. Ladbroke Crescent, Gardens, Grove, Road, Square, Terrace and Walk in London’s Notting Hill are all on land the family once owned. Ladbrook Road (NB two Os but no E) in Solihull was named after the family. There were probably connections between the Ladbroke and Holbeach families, but there have not yet been identified. The Ladbroke betting firm emanated from Ladbroke Hall (two miles south of Southam), which originally had great stables.

A HISTORY of MOSELEY BOG

Talk given by Mike Byrne on 21 November 2016 to Solihull Local History Circle

Moseley was in the parish of Kings Norton, but Moseley Bog was in Yardley, and not given its present name until the late 1930s. Its land was owned originally by the Grovies family of Moseley Hall (burnt down in the 1791 riots). Water was the underlying factor in the history of the Bog and its neighbourhood from the Bronze Age to the present day.

The two burnt Mounds dating from the Bronze Age (1,500 BC) in Moseley bog were places, close to a watercourse, where large stones were heated by fire and dropped into water inside a wigwam of branches. Their purpose was originally thought to have been to cook food, but no food remains have been discovered. They could have been saunas, but current thinking was that they had spiritual and healing purposes. In the middle of thick undergrowth and trees, they were always mysterious places. Certainly the occupants would have sweated, and this has been a technique down the ages to recover health, either spiritually or physically. These Burnt Mounds were listed as Ancient Monuments in 2002.

The water around the Bog was also used for industrial purposes. Matthew Boulton’s father (died 1759) lived at Sarehole farm and experimented with water power at Sarehole Mill. But its pool did not supply enough, and so Matthew went to Handsworth to harness better supplies for his Manufatory on a ‘barren common’; Sarehole had missed the opportunity and fame. Byt Swanhurst Pool was constructed and Lady Mill (Coldbath) Pool was linked to Sarehole Pool by 1768 to augment water pressure. By 1969 Swanhurst Pool had disappeared and Sarehole – now called Old Pool – had willows and supported an osier business.

Urbanisation caused water problems, not easily solved as responsibility was shared between three separate bodies: Birmingham Council, the Environment Agency, and Severn Trent Water. Water had to be drained and flooding avoided. By 1937 there were separate systems for foul water and surface water. But further housing development throughout the second half of the 20^th century created great problems. A great sewage tank (200ft long, 100ft wide and 20ft deep) was constructed in 1971 under the Bog, with excess water flowing into the Colefall Brook – which joined the Rover Cole. But at times of heavy rainfall, the brook could not take this and there was flooding – especially in 2007.

Moseley Bog developed a literary connection as J.R.R.Tolkien (1892 – 1973) lived, when aged between 4 and 7, at 264 Wake Green Road (where the owners refused to allow a blue plaque). He wrote tales, including The Hobbit (1927) and The Lord of the Rings (1955); the thick woodland of the Bog had inspired his imagination of a world of his own invention, peopled by strange beings with their own language and mythology. George Andrew, the Sarehole miller, had chased him off the property. Once films of the books were made, much publicity was given to the area. The Hungry Hobbit Café opened, and was sued by a US company for using the copyright which it owned. The case never came to court, but more publicity was obtained and the City Council was urged to provide signposting and maps for visitors to the Bog. The Middle Earth Festival started in 1998 but lapsed after some years; it restarted in 2015.

Moseley Bog was affected by three major considerations which were often in conflict – environmental, historical, and flood prevention. In the 1980s Joy Fifer, who had been involved in setting up the first Urban Wildlife Trust, fought to protect the environment. The Roman Catholic Diocese wished to build houses on the south west side of Wake Green Road and, apart from Pool Meadow close, she ultimately persuaded it and the City planners to build next to the RC School rather than affect Moseley Bog – whose name she publicised to gain support. An International Dawn Chorus event was held in 1984. John Morris Jones, the local historian and author of Cole Valley South persuaded Joy to link her efforts for the Bog to the Cole Conservation Group. An appeal was made for railway sleepers to construct paths. Plenty were received but there was an arson attack: Network Rail kindly made up the loss. In 1999 the Council fenced off the sandpit to deter hooligans. Shortly before she died, Joy’s Wood was named in her honour in 1999 – above the sewage tank (although the enthusiast were hardly aware of this).

Bob Blackburn now played a prominent role in protecting the Bog and the Group secured a 25 Year Agreement to conserve it. In 2010 the Heritage lottery fund gave a grant of £400,000 for this purpose.

SOLIHULL LOCAL NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS of the 1950s

Talk given by Laurence Ince on 17 October 2016 to the Solihull Local History Circle

[This had been brought forward from April 2017 due to Joy Woodall’s indisposition. The talk was interactive, with members offering their own memories. The cuttings had been received from the Secretary of Crediton Local History Society who had lived in Solihull as a child]

The first of the 12 newspapers on which the talk was based was The Solihull & Warwick County News of 22 July 1952. The advertising in that, and the other newspapers up to 1954, was fascinating. Entertainment featured frequently: there were at least three schools of Dancing in Solihull. The Tudor Cinema in Knowle was still operating (with its bench seating remembered by David Patterson) before being turned into a garage – which itself was replaced in 2014 by apartments. The Knowle Community Association promoted Revels in Carnival at which a subsequent report stated “there was a pronouncement of benediction by the Vicar”. In March 1954 the Solihull Society of Arts was promoting Family Affairs with tickets at 3/6d (17.5p). Solihull Carnival Day on Saturday 29 May would include ‘a sheepdog presentation’.

What may be loosely defined as Facilities included a quilt recovery service; a lawn mower service offered by Rayners, ironmongers, then of 7 Warwick Road, Olton, before they moved to into Mell Square. Electrical offers included an immersion heater at 10s (50p) per quarter, and a Frigidaire for sale at 74 guineas, reduced from £89-19s. Cossor TVs with a 17ins screen were advertised by F.R.Williams on the Stratford Road. Names familiar today were Treadwells of Shirley, paint & wallpaper merchants; and the Forest Hotel in Dorridge houses were often advertised by estate agents who never quoted an asking price, and by individuals who usually did – eg a detached in Buryfield Road was £2,200 in 1952, and one on Warwick Road £3,250 in 1954. Bottled “pure mineral water” was sold under an Archer Arden label (the source was likely to be near Meriden), and the early days of ‘new foods’ were featured by advertisements: instant coffee from Nescafe, and frozen asparagus, sprouts, etc from Birds Eye. The agricultural environment was reflected in Karswood’s Pig Powders (12 for 1/6d) used for worming pigs. Ladies underwear advertisements with illustrations were frequent, eg by W.G.Warden in Solihull High Street. One was for the girdle ‘Sarong’ that “walks and does not rise up”. Another by Capon Ltd in Poplar Road was for nylon bras with broderie anglaise.

There was, of course, news. On 21 February 1954 a timetable for Princess Margaret’s visit for Charter Day on 11 March was published. She would arrive at 10.30am at Solihull Station (although members recalled that she had flown into RAF Honiley beforehand). A report after the visit, with many pictures, showed Penelope Mell presenting her with a bouquet of orchids. A loud bang during the ceremony in the Odeon Cinema, Shirley (the only venue large enough to accommodate the event) had been totally ignored. The newspaper headline on 6 February 1954 was ‘Crime in Solihull – the Biggest Increase in the County’. The previous 12 months had had 196 crimes, compared with 134 previously: most of the miscreants came from outside the Borough, mainly Birmingham. The crimes included bicycle infringements, eg not stopping at halt signs for which fines of 10s – 15s were imposed.

Local history featured occasionally. A Miss Paterson appealed for such books to pass on to Solihull Library. An article about local stately houses started with Grimshaw Hall. The section on Libbards Hall explained that the name came from the leopards depicted on the Hawes’ family coat of arms, which at one time had owned it as well as Hillfield Hall.

There were daily air services from Elmdon Airport to Southend-on-Sea for £5-10s and Ostend for £13-2s. A Ford Popular car cost £275 (or £130 with the rest paid over 18 months) at Bristol Street Motors in Birmingham. [This was a pre war design which was now being mass produced]. A news report revealed that Solihull Council had bought some lorries, second hand, and was converting them into fire engines.

In May 1954 there was a double column advertisement to ‘Join the Home Guard Now’. Recruiting meetings were to be held at Solihull Motors, Shirley Odeon Cinema, Knowle ‘near the church’ and Solihull Carnival Ground, to join the 3^rd Warwickshire (Solihull) Home Guard Battalion. The men would not be paid – but the officers would be, and it was the cost of these that led to the initiative (due to growing fear of Russia) being abandoned after a year or so.

Monday September 19^th, 2016

Nigel Cameron – The Payton Family Of Solihull

The idea for this talk and book on the subject came from a donation of two paintings to the safe-keeping of the Solihull Local History Circle. The donation came from Ruth Moston. A lady who lived in Cheshire. Members of her family had lived in Solihull. The paintings were a watercolour of Chad Hill Cottage in Edgbaston and a view of St Alphege Church, Solihull. The church view was by Ruth Moston’s great grandmother’s brother – Henry Thornhill Timmins (1856-1908). The watercolour of Chad Hill Cottage was by his wife Laura (1857-1943). This donation also included the reminiscences of her great uncle, Charles Payton, of his life in Solihull as a schoolboy.

The story starts with Joseph Payton (1770-1842) who was an auctioneer in Dudley. The family prospered and several of his children moved to Birmingham, Walsall, rural Warwickshire, and even to York. The Paytons founded a family business of brass and iron merchants in Birmingham and the Black Country. Their trading interests reached out to South America and the Iberian Peninsula. Edward Payton (1807-1882) and his family moved to Solihull in 1852. This was the year that the village’s railway station opened on the Oxford – Birmingham line. The talk revolved around the memories of Charles Lawrence Payton. He was born in Birmingham in 1891. His grandmother at that time still lived at Chad Hill Cottage in Edgbaston. Because of illnesses in the city his father decided to move the family to Solihull, They settled down at Lyndhurst in Herbert Road close to the Roman Catholic Church. Many of his happy memories concern the festivities associated with Christmas. In the years 1895/6 the family’s Merchant business suffered severe losses in South America. Expenses had to be severely cut down. Around 1900 the family transferred their home to a newly built house called Oakmeadow which stood opposite Malvern Park. Charles Payton recorded in detail his school life at Solihull Grammar School and his activities with his friends. Much of the talk linked the Payton family with their Solihull friends and relatives. This included the biographies of many prominent Solihull citizens. Interesting details were revealed concerning the Rev. Robert Wilson who became headmaster of Solihull Grammar School, the actor Roger Watkins-Pitchford and his brother Denys, an author and illustrator and the Solihull businessman Simon Leitner.

A complete account of the family was published by Solihull Local History Circle in 2016. The book, written by Nigel Cameron, is entitled The Paytons of Solihull and is available to buy at any of our meetings.

TUDOR GRANGE : LIFE and HISTORY

Talk given by Allan Evans on 18 April 2016 to Solihull Local History Circle

Allan Evans’ father was the Head Master of Tudor Grange Special School from its opening until its closure. He kept a scrapbook containing every article and photograph over the whole period, but did not want it published until after his death. His wife, when she learnt about the album, placed a similar stipulation until after her death. In 2014 David Gill and Tracey Williams of Solihull Library asked Allan for a contribution to celebrate Solihull’s 60^th Anniversary of becoming a Borough, and was amazed to see this archive – the only complete one of any school in the Borough. Having annotated the photographs and catalogued the cuttings, the family presented it to the Library on the 65^th Anniversary of the School’s opening.

Tudor Grange was built in 1886 for Alfred Lovekin. Like other Birmingham businessmen, he was attracted by the opening of the railway in 1852 to live in rural Solihull. The land on which the house was built was leased from the Chattocks, and it was designed by Thomas Henry Mansell (1854-1911), the well known architect from Stourbridge who worked in Newhall Street, Birmingham. He had also designed the building in Regent Street, Hockley, which Adie & Lovekin, manufacturing jewellers, had their offices. Alfred was a Roman Catholic and, with other Dissenters, could practice in Birmingham as it never had trade guilds. “Ty Dwr” means water house in Welsh, yet Tudor Grange was Victorian Jacobean Gothic - to demonstrate its owner’s wealth. Plunketts of Warwick panelled the interior in mahogany and oak. In February 1900 Mrs Lovekin died aged 50 and within weeks her husband married again.

Tudor Grange was sold by auction in September 1900 to Alfred Bird, son of the Baptist chemist who had invented baking powder, which was used in the Crimean War to make bread as yeast was not available, and then devised custard (made with water) to suit his wife’s health. Alfred extended the house, using Edward (1861-1941), Mansell’s son. Robert Bridgeman, who sculpted the statues on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral and had moved from London to do so, added embellishments and Alfred brought 15^th/16^th century stained glass from his European travels for the windows. [Some is still in situ, the rest is in Warwick Museum]. Alfred wanted Blossomfield Road diverted to give more privacy to the house. He held lavish parties to persuade the Council to pay for this, but it refused so Alfred vowed never to give Solihull another penny. He bought 27 acres on the west side of the road and paid for the diversion himself which was completed in 1904. He also built a house on this land for his heir, Robert. It was called The White House, which was incongruous as it was constructed of yellow Cotswold stone and the interior was custard yellow.

Alfred was an early motorist and a photograph c1905 showed a rally in front of the extended house. another historic photo showed Alfred in the centre of eight men. Those to his left were his four sons – Robert, Geoffrey, Oliver and Christopher: the last led a colourful life and was the only one to move away from Solihull. In the 1960s a local lady aged over 90, previously unknown to him, offered Mr Evans a fine painting of the house which Allan still treasures. It is signed A.J.Powers and dates from 1912.

There was an extensive garden at the rear of the house. The lake was fed by a natural spring, supplemented by a windmill pump. The latter was brought down by a thunderstorm and never replaced. On the bank was a plinth bearing the figurehead of HMS Royal Anne from 1712. On its disposal it was declined by Warwick Museum but accepted by the Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The Italian Garden had a lily pond with a cupola; a 1929 photo showed Lady Eleanor Bird standing next to it. A statue of a slave girl was disliked by Mrs Evans who vowed to cover it with roses or similar. But she could not decide on the colour; eventually Mr Evans destroyed it with a sledgehammer.

After he retired from business Alfred Bird stood for Parliament. He failed to be elected at Wednesbury in the 1906 General Election but was successful at the Wolverhampton West By-Election in 1909. He was knighted in 1920 and made a baronet in the New Year Honours in 1922. But a month later he was knocked down after midnight by a taxi in London and died. Lady Eleanor continued to live at Tudor Grange.

During WWII a hospital for wounded Belgian soldiers was established in the house, managed by the Red Cross under the auspices of Lady Eleanor. Without all the jewellery she normally wore over her uniform, she conducted the Duchess of Gloucester around the hospital in 1941. After Lady Eleanor died in 1943 the contents of the house were auctioned over four days. In 1946 the property was sold to the Warwickshire County Council who wished to take the lead in implementing the 1944 Education Act in relation to children with special needs. Mr Evans (born 1916), then based at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore (Middx), was invited to be the School’s Head Master. On his return journey to London following his interview, he was amazed to see that the locomotive pulling his train was named Tudor Grange.

The School opened in 1949 and took around 40 children aged from 5 to 16. Most boarded, but some were brought from their homes daily. A normal curriculum was maintained with each child taught to the level of the level of their intelligence and ability. Imaginative ways were used to teach eg if a boy could not hold a pencil, then he was taught to type. In 1976 the School moved to purpose built premises in Olton, and Tudor Grange became part of Solihull College. Mr Evans remained Head Master until his retirement in 1980 when the school closed.I

SOLIHULL SCHOOL DURING WWI

Talk given by John Loynton on 21 March 2016 to Solihull Local History Circle

270 former Solihull School pupils served in the military forces during WWI of whom 55 lost their lives. The age range of the latter was 19 – 36, with an average of 23. Most served in the army, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment alone having 76, with 17 in the RFC/RAF and 5 in the Royal Navy. 49 were awarded decorations.

The School’s records of its pupils are extant only from 1920 onwards, so the main source of information was The Shenstonian, the School magazine. First published in 1884, there is a continuous run of issues from 1906. It recorded events in great detail, especially cricket matches (which started to be played as early as 1860). Team scores up to the end of WWI were low by modern standards, and if any boy scored 50 a tree was planted in his honour – the line is one of the features of the School grounds today. The Rev’d Doctor A.J.Cooper was Head Master during WWI and read the announcement of casualties to the School Assembly almost every morning. He lived in School House and retired early with ill health in 1920. He was succeeded by Mr Bushell, who had himself served in the War.

In 1912 England, captained by Frank Foster, won the Ashes. He had been captain of the School’s 1^st XI, all of whom amazingly survived the War. The vice-captain was Leslie Smith, one of five brothers (two of whom were killed). Others who survived were Reg Patterson (David’s father) who left the School in 1911, became a Private in the Royal Warwicks and later L/Corporal in the Worcesters, served at Ypres and was gassed twice. He lived to be 90, dying in 1986. Charles Lander also left in 1911, joined the Birmingham University OTC alongside Montgomery and Slim, and like them was commissioned into the Royal Warwicks. The Shenstonian reported him killed but in fact he returned home after the War to Ashleigh Road. He also lived to be 90; his daughter published his Memoires in 2010.

Some of those who did not survive were: Clive Beaufoy, at the School 1908-1914 where he played football (no rugby until 1930) and was in the OTC (founded 1898). He was immediately commissioned into the Royal Warwicks and was killed on 25 September 1918 aged 21. His cousin, Eric, left the School in 1912, joined the Merchant Navy but jumped ship at Brisbane (costing his father a £50 fine) to join the Australian Army and serve in the War. He survived to die in 1965. Capt. Clement Martineau was a Colour Serjeant in the OTC and was commissioned directly into the Royal Warwicks. He died of wounds in a German Field Hospital on 10 May 1918, aged 21. His mother kept a lighted candle at the entrance to Touchwood Hall for many years, and his memorial is in St Alphege Church. William Furse left in 1907, was commissioned into the Northumberland Fusiliers and was killed at the Somme in July 1916, having married Beatrice Law of King’s Heath the previous autumn. His brother Alan, commissioned into the Royal Warwicks wrote, like others, descriptive letters home. He contacted scurvy in 1916 and was sent home where he was allowed to wear the Silver War Badge to avoid being presented by women with the white feather of cowardice. Shortly before the Armistice Alan was one of those who formed the Old Comrades Association in Birmingham.

In 1919 the School held its first Remembrance Service and a list of the fallen was unveiled in the dining room. It was replaced in 1953 by a new War Memorial. Recent research has shown that it contains two names who did not die and omits five who did. The School took part in the ceremony on 19 June 1921 when the Solihull War Memorial was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Craven, and consecrated by the Bishop of Birmingham. The ceremony was organised by Dr Adolphus Bernays, who was a School Governor1896-1938, serving twice as Chairman. The 103 names inscribed on the bronze tablets include eight Old Silhillians. The Shirley War Memorial lists two names and the Henley-in-Arden one Old Sil. There are over 55,000 names (including Sgt Waters) on the Menin Gate at Ypres where the School participated in the 23,672^nd nightly ceremony in October 1998. At Thiepval there are over 73,000 names, including two Old Sils.

Few photographs of those who fell survive. Lt.Col William Burnett left the school in 1896, became an engineer, married Agnes and had a son. He joined the North Staffords, was awarded the DSO and died of wounds on 3 July 1916, aged 36; he was the most highly ranked Old Sill killed. Lt John Harrison left in 1912 and went into insurance. He served in the Royal Warwicks, was awarded the MC (one of 14 for Old Sils) and was killed in April 1917 aged 22. Lt Norman Dingley left in 1911 after captaining the cricket 2^nd XI. He served with the Worcesters and was killed in May 1917 aged 22. L/Cpl Herbert Arculus (Royal Warwicks) and Private William Machin (Middlesex Regt.) were both killed in 1916. Murray Wilson-Brown – the son of an Old Sil – served in the RFC/RAF and was killed in July 1916 aged 19. Harold Jackson, played for the cricket 1^st XI and was killed flying with 41 Squadron in June 1917 aged 21. Flg.Off Eric Wormell survived the War as did his fascinating sketch books.

The School’s most senior officer was Brigadier Sir Walter Ludlow, CB, DL (1857-1941), Royal Warwicks, who left School in 1869 and was a Governor 1924-30. A surveyor by profession, he served in the Territorial Army and in 1914 was a Colonel in charge of the Birmingham Army Recruiting Office. He was sent to Ypres in 1915 to command the 184^th Infantry Brigade. His youngest son, Stratford, was educated at King’s Worcester and also served in the Royal Warwicks. He was killed at the Somme in 1916 aged 22 and is commemorated in the beautiful east window of Knowle Parish Church. In 2006 the School performed Oh, What a Lovely War, and in 2009 Private Peaceful. In 2014 3^rd Form pupils made ceramic poppies for a display at the School.

Talk given by Michael Byrne on 15 February 2016 to Solihull Local History Circle

Yardley Manor House, which was moated, is today marked by a group of trees near the church, which stands on the north east edge of its large parish. Partridge Road, just over the boundary to the east, was named after William Partridge, a builder of the 1920/30s who built several of the surrounding estates. The parish boundary with Sheldon was straightened in 1717 to align with Sir Edward Digby’s deerpark: he lived not in Sheldon Hall – which he used as a shooting lodge - but at Coleshill Hall. Sheldon Hall, built in the 16^th century of red and black brick with stone dressings, was moated, and still stands discreetly hidden from the surrounding Sheldon Hall Estate. Kents Moat, off Sheldon Heath Road, now has four Birmingham Council houses. The originally moated site was Kempe’s, after the family that lived there from the 12^th-15^th centuries when it fell into ruin. Park Lane led to the deerpark, but was originally Pool Lane as recorded in Saxon times. Sheldon was transferred from Warwickshire into Birmingham in 1931, twenty years after Yardley - originally in Worcestershire.

The Yardley Sewage Works opened in 1890 and closed in 1971 (when the sewer to Minworth became operational). It had discharged water into the River Cole whose course had been altered. The southern bank of the River - due to demolition of the Works (now vacant ground) and accumulated spoil - is now much higher than the northern, which has not altered from the original. The Kingfisher Project, begun in the 1980s, has improved the appearance and amenities of the river over the years. Nearby Leycroft Avenue has 24 Prefabs, some of which are unaltered whilst others have had their original metal skin covered in bricks. Lea Ford Road bridge – where the boundary leaves the River to go along Bushbury Road – was originally a Bailey Bridge dating from 1947, but this was replaced by a new bridge (costing £73,000) in the 1960s.

The boundary rejoins the River close to where the Stich Brook enters it. The railway, which arrived in 1844, misspelt the name to Stetchford. The station used to see trains divide, allowing half the carriages to proceed into Birmingham and the other half to go on The Loop to Aston and Wolverhampton. The station was rebuilt in 1882. Eight people, including the driver, were killed here in 1967 when a train collided with a shunting engine; the line was closed for three days. Near the station is Flaxley Road which records the flax originally grown in the neighbourhood and retted in the river water to soften its fibres. The Grumbleberry Pools on the north west side of the Cole were to take up any overflow of the River.

The boundary continues south along the River Cole. The Bordesley Green East bridge was built in 1928, but the Yardley Green Road bridge is far older being recorded in 1346, with a rebuild in 1810. It passes Blakesley Hall, dating from 1590. The Hob Moor Road bridge (1928) replaced a ford. Adjacent to the bridge was a heliport from which in 1951 a helicopter service operated to Heathrow and Northolt airports. The cost was £4-10s return. But, with three seater helicopters, it was not profitable and ceased after a year. The Coventry Road was turnpiked in 1745 until 1800. When it was widened in 1903 the old Toll House was lost, and there was further widening in 1983.

St Cyprian’s Church in the Fordrough was designed by Frank Barlow Osborne in 1873/4. The cost was met by James Horsfall, the millowner whose company Webster & Horsfall had been founded in 1720, and in the 1860s made part of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable. The Church is built on top of a millrace going into the River. To its east is Hay Hall, originally 15^th century but its west front was rebuilt in 1810. Part of its land was surrendered to the railways in the 1850s, and the remainder sold in 1948 for the industrial estate which now surrounds it; the Hall is now used as offices.

The boundary crosses the Warwick Canal (constructed 1793-79) part of the Grand Union, beside which is Birmingham’s ‘Cathedral of Waste’ which replaced the Tyseley Destructor in the 1990s. Between the railway (built 1850-52) and the Spark Brook, which now becomes the boundary with Small Heath, was the Birmingham Small Arms factory built in 1861. This was replaced by a trading estate in the early 1990s. The adjacent modern Ackers Trust building, with its ski slope built from rubble, provides sports facilities especially for young people. The Brook flows below Walford Road where there are some interesting buildings although much changed, eg the Dance Hall (1929) now the Sharma Banqueting Suite; the History Palace (1910) which burned down in the 1980s; the Waldorf Cinema (1903) which, after closing in 1983, is now a temple. The roof of an end of terrace house collapsed in April 2015; inside was a mosque, but the house’s claim to fame was that it was the home of Richard Hammond’s grandparents.

THE BOURNVILLE STORY

Talk given by Robert Booth on 18 January 2016 to Solihull Local History Circle

Richard Cadbury arrived in Birmingham in 1794 and established a draper’s shop. By 1824 his son John (1801-1889) had premises in Bath Street where he sold tea, coffee, and cocoa – as a health product. He ground cocoa bean with a pestle and mortar and by 1849, with a shop in Bridge Street, he sold 16 sorts of drinking chocolate and 11 sorts of cocoa powder. In 1854 he was granted a Royal Warrant and in 1861 handed over the business to his two sons, Richard (1835-1899) and George (1839 – 1922). They bought 4 acres of agricultural land in Worcestershire around Bournbrook Hall in 1876, alongside the canal and railway. Construction of their works, and a few houses for key workers, began in 1879. One of the latter still stands, the rest were demolished in 1923 for factory expansion. The site had 300 workers in 1880, 1,000 in 1889 and 2685 in 1899. Many were girls, some as young as 13 – one of whom in 1904 wrote her reminiscences – who were accommodated in Bournbrook Hall, which was not demolished until 1907. The Girls’ Bath was built in 1902-4 (architect G.H.Lewin) where they were taught to swim. The main business competitors at this time were Rowntrees, Frys (with whom Cadbury amalgamated in 1918) and Van Houten in Holland, which George Cadbury visited to see their cocoa grinding machines.

George Cadbury bought 120 acres adjoining his factory in 1893 and appointed W.Alexander Harvey as his architect to create a model village for his workers. The Bournville Village Trust (totally separate from the company) was set up in 1900, by which time 313 houses had been built. Cadbury stipulated that 10% of the land should be open space and that each house had adequate accommodation (including a bath), a pleasing exterior appearance whether detached or semi-detached, and a garden: trees, hedges and flowers are still a distinctive feature of the estate. It was the forerunner of Hampstead Garden Suburb founded in 1906. Further land was acquired over the years so that the estate (split by the Bristol Road and three streams) now covers 1,000 acres, with 8,000 dwellings – half of which are tenanted and none reserved for Cadbury employees (in contrast to Port Sunlight, for example). The main developments since the original village have been the Bournville Tenants estate (1907), Weoley Hill (begun 1914, but mainly dating from the 1920/30s and now containing some very recent new houses with striking designs), the Works Housing Society (1919), Woodlands (1923) and Shenley Manor (1952).

The old farmhouses in the area still survive (one is now a hotel), as do the original stores (1898 by W.A.Harvey) in Maryvale Road. The current shopping centre by The Green was built in 1905-8 (architect H.Bedford Taylor). Other notable buildings are the Bath House (1895 W.A.Harvey) which had six baths for workers to use at the cost of 1d; the Estate Office (1895 W.A.Harvey); Almshouses (1897 Ewen Harper); Ruskin Hall (1905 W.A.Harvey), the village’s cultural centre suggested by J.H.Whitehouse, a friend of Ruskin; the Friends’ Meeting House (1905 W.A.Harvey), unusually containing an organ as George Cadbury wished Anglicans and Methodists to use it as well as Quakers; the Continuation College (1925 S.A.Wilmot) where Under 18s spent a day per week extending their education; St Francis of Assisi Church (1925 W.A.Harvey, who also designed the Robin Hood crematorium in the same style); and the Rest House (1914 W.A.Harvey) built to mark George & Elizabeth Cadbury’s Silver Wedding and modelled on the 16^th century yarn market at Dunster (Somerset).

George Cadbury won his battle against the Education Authority that classrooms should hold no more than 40 (as opposed to 60), and the Junior School by W.A.Harvey was erected in 1902-5. At its SE corner is the Carillion, now with 48 bells; a recital is given each Saturday morning. The Maypole is the largest in England (enabling 250 dancers) and is close to The Pavilion (1902 H.B.Taylor). The War Memorial is unusual as it incorporates photographs of each WWI soldier who is named. The statue by William Bloye (1890-1975) on The Green who lived from 1956 in Dovehouse Lane, Solihull; he also carved the 56ins high statue of St Alphege in 1959, now in the Oliver Bird Hall. The Serbian Church (1967) contains no seats. There are three Blue Plaques on buildings on the estate, including one to John Henry Barlow (1855-1924) the first Secretary/General Manager of the Trust and one of the first members of the Friends’ Ambulance Unit.

None of the houses where members of the Cadbury family lived survive in their original state. The Manor was demolished after a fire; Fircroft was completely altered to become a college; Sellywood House is now the new Queen Mother’s Court; Westholme was used by Polish refugees in the 1950/60s; and the 18^th century Woodbrooke, George Cadbury’s house where Josiah Mason had lived previously, has had many piecemeal alteration and additions.

The speaker was born on the estate, the son of a company fireman whose 1925 house contained an alarm for call-outs. Robert was a silversmith before becoming an industrial illustrator and a lecturer at Wolverhampton University; he now designs products on a computer. He became Chairman of the Bournville Village Trust in 2011, and was much involved in the production of its Centenary Booklet published in September 2013. Its 220 illustrations contained many never seen before. One was of the bomb damage caused to the canal during WWII when millions of gallons of water were lost as there is no lock for four miles between Edgbaston and Kings Norton. Although the Cadburys were pacifists, they did allow Bournville Utilities to be formed which made gas masks during the war. The Booklet also had reproductions of some of Frank Newbould’s posters – eg his charming view of the factory in 1925 surrounded by greenery - as well as other artists like Michael Reilly and Ernest Wallcountis who worked for the Company.

SLHC MEMBERS’ ILLUSTRATED TALKS : 21 DECEMBER 2015

AN ECCLESIASTICAL POTTING SHED, by ALLAN EVANS

Tudor Grange is the most inappropriate name for this house, which was built for Alfred Lovekin in 1886. ‘Ty Dwr’ means water house in Welsh, and ‘Grange’ is derived from granary, yet the house was designed in Victorian Gothic to demonstrate its owner’s wealth. It was sold to Alfred Bird in 1900, who enlarged it. After retiring from business, he became MP for Wolverhampton West at a by-election in 1909. The “potting shed” stood at the east end of the main house. Its tower, designed by Edward Mansell of the Birmingham architectural practice, was modelled on the Houses of Parliament – as were other features (eg the lions and gargoyles) of the exterior. The ecclesiastical looking tower was in fact the chimney of the coke fired boiler. This heated the extensive greenhouses where nectarines and grapes – and even orchids for Alfred’s daily buttonhole – were grown. The potting shed comprised three compartments: a large apple pantry, the gardeners’ meeting room, and the tool store. The garden comprised 27 acres and, when the house was taken over for a residential school for children with special needs in 1949, Robert Evans (the headmaster) retained two of the gardeners – Gillet, the head gardener who kept bees in the garden, and Somerton. The “shed” became derelict and was eventually demolished. The walled kitchen garden still exists and is cultivated (though no longer using the old methods) by today’s horticultural students.

THE JENNENS CUP, by EDNA HANDLEY

The Jennens Cup was one of 34 silver and silver plate trophies awarded by the Solihull Society of Arts to winners at its Competitive Music Festival which ran from 1952 to 1974. They were later used at the Arts Festival run by Solihull MB Council until 1981, The Jennens Cup, 9.5” high with two handles, chased panels and hallmarked Sheffield 1940, was valued at £145 in 2012.. It was presented by Philip & Marie Jennens around 1953 for the best contralto solo. The winners’ names 1954-81 are inscribed on a silver band around the cup’s plinth. Marie (1910-92) had sung as a contralto in the Methodist Church Choir, and also in the Society’s Choir conducted by Margaret Wharam. The latter choir renamed itself the Chandos in 1984 and became independent of The Society in 1992. Philip Jennens (1910-1986) was a Solihull dentist and, with his wife and three children, lived at Raloma (‘a molar’ backwards) in Marsh Lane. Pat Hough, their daughter who was present at the meeting, played a record of Blow the Wind Southerly sung by Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953) whose voice her parents much admired.

All the challenge cups went missing after The Society moved its headquarters from Lode Lane to Alderbrook School in 2002. They were rediscovered in the loft of Gary Smallwood (The Society’s Chairman 2002-2005) when he moved house in 2012. The Society donated them to its Sections who wanted them, and to outside organisations which would use them. The Local History Section acquired the Jennens Cup to award annually to the member who had made the greatest contribution to local history. Nigel Cameron received it in 2104 for his History of the Solihull Society of Arts, and Peter & Edna Handley for their research on Pinfold Farm and indexing the Solihull Planning Applications 1891- 1931.

A SOLIHULL VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS, by LAURENCE INCE

Mrs Payton of Cheshire had sent Laurence two paintings, and the reminiscences of her father-in-law, Charles. The family were hardware merchants, who also invested money in insurance. They lived in Edgbaston, where Charles – one of eight children – was baptised at St George’s in 1891 before moving to Lyndhurst in Herbert Road, Solihull, in 1895. Christmas was a great occasion, particularly for a large, wealthy family with servants. Mr Leitner, a Birmingham merchant, who lived at Alderbrook Lodge in Blossomfield Road, came on Christmas Eve with lavish presents for each member of the family. The decorations in the house were magnificent. On Christmas morning the family attended St Alphege Church where – for the only time in the year - the Rector (who became Charles’ brother-in-law) preached a short sermon. Christmas Dinner had many courses with fine wines.

Full evening dress was always worn for Dinner, which the young children did not attend but afterwards were given the surplus jellies and trifles by the servants. Charles’ elder sisters, Mollie and Bessie, now in their early twenties, went to the Lord Mayor of Birmingham’s Annual Ball as they had been born in Edgbaston. Frederick Wright, who lived at Hillfield Hall, had the first car in Solihull – a £1,000 Rolls Royce in which Charles had several journeys. But in the early 1890s Charles’ father lost much money in South American insurance ventures: the staff had to be reduced and Charles’ brothers, Arthur and Julian, left their independent schools and went to work as clerks in the family business. In 1900 the family moved to Oak Meadow opposite Malvern Park. Charles went to Solihull Grammar School, a year before his brother, Bertie, left to learn farming at Ilmington. On 5 November the School had a great fireworks display, and the head of the guy was filled with gunpowder.

Charles’ mother’s maiden name was Timmins. Her brother, Harold, was a well known artist whose wife was a gifted amateur painter. She painted Chad Cottage, her house in Edgbaston, which was one of the paintings sent to Laurence. He will ask the Birmingham Historical Society to keep it in their gallery. The other painting was a gouache by Harold Timmins of St Alphege Church from the west end, showing in the foreground The Priory (the predecessor of the present house built in 1889), where Charles’ grandfather, Edward Payton, lived. Laurence hoped to find somewhere in Solihull where it could be on permanent public display.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK in WARWICK, KENILWORTH & LONG COMPTON

Talk given by Bryn Gethin on 16 November 2015 to Solihull Local History Circle

WARWICK

The Bus Station (excavated in 2008): Market Street was redeveloped with 1960s shops and its southern end re-aligned to provide a car park. This was the site excavated and the foundations of the old buildings, including The Mulberry Tree Inn, were found. Many clay pipes from the 1860s were discovered together with the remains of the kilns in which they had been made. Three Neolithic pits contained pottery of that period. The old town ditch was located but no remains of the walls. Numerous Muria Grants had been recorded but what type of walls were built with the money was not stated, so they may never have been stone. Other towns had stone gatehouses but only wood & earth walls. The walls had disappeared by 1610 when John Speed drew his map of the town.

St Lawrence Church (excavated 2009/10): One of 10 churches in mediaeval Warwick, this was first mentioned in 1123 when St Mary’s was refounded, and given all the smaller churches in the town to help its finances. It stood in West Street beside its junction with Castle Lane, outside the Westgate, its site being marked on the 1711 map. In 1360 the Bishop of Worcester agreed to a request that all the smaller churches in Warwick should be closed, but St Lawrence’s still operated in 1403; only a resubmission to the Bishop in 1410 secured its closure. Originally comprising a chancel, north aisle and nave, only the latter survived – used as a barn – until 1680 when it was demolished. The owners of the modern house wished to have a double garage and driveway. When the foundations for this were being dug, the remains of the church and many graves were discovered. The graves were lined with cut stone, and one had a decorated (broken) slab, so was probably that of a priest. Subsequent graves cut into earlier ones over the churchyard’s 300 year usage, and over 160 skeletons were uncovered. Besides delaying the new building work, the excavations cost c£20,000.

The Castle: Lord Brooke had strengthened his castle just before the Civil War, so the Royalists were unable to take it. Canaletto’s painting of 1745 showed that houses still came close to the castle’s walls. When the muniment room at the base of Guy’s Tower was cleared out around 2000, documents going back to the 14^th century were discovered. Graffiti on the walls included fleur de lys, which probably meant that French prisoners were held there in the 1400s.

KENILWORTH

The Castle: Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656) included plans of the castle which was wrecked in 1650. A narrow postern gate was discovered beside Lunn’s Tower in 2012. It was probably built around 1210 when King John strengthened the castle. Venetian glass and a civil war cannonball were also found. Excavations were made in the floor of the stables (built 1550), and on the site of the new ticket office. There the clay lining of The Mere, with a slope on which to beach boats, was discovered.

The Abbey Gatehouse (excavated 2014): Buttresses were found on both sides of the gateway, probably dating from the rebuild in 1340.

LONG COMPTON

The Mediaeval Village (excavated 2015): Foundations of several houses – end on to Clarke’s Lane for those at that end of the large site – plus barns and drainage channels were discovered before a new housing estate was erected. The remains probably dated from around 1300. One building seems to have been used for industrial purposes as it had a particularly wide drain; it was probably a small fulling mill.

THE HISTORY of RAILWAYS in BIRMINGHAM & THE WEST MIDLANDS

Talk given by David Cadney on 19 October 2015 to Solihull Local History Circle

with readings by Margaret Cadney from The Gazette and the works of George Borrow

William James (1771 - 1837) was a solicitor and surveyor born in Henley-in-Arden, where a plaque proclaims him as ‘The Father of the Railway System’. In fact little known, his proposed Stratford-on-Avon to London Railway was never built, but his wooden tramway between Stratford and Moreton-in-Marsh was constructed.

Richard Trevithick (1771 – 1838) was the inventor of the locomotive which was used on a railway between the steelworks at Pendarren near Merthyr Tydfil and the Glamorgan Canal, a distance of 9 miles. The steam engine replaced horses pulling the wagons.

George Stephenson (1781 – 1848) was a self-taught engineer from Newcastle-on-Tyne who began by working in mines. His first locomotive was successful on the tramlines of Killingworth Colliery in 1814. He was the Engineer for the Stockton & Darlington Railway – the first to carry passengers and goods by a locomotive – which opened on 27 September 1825. He was then employed on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway which in 1829 held the famous Rainhill Trials. Three locomotives were tested, the winner being Rocket designed by George and his son, Robert (1803 – 1859). Their success was due to the boiler being multi-tubular – the first ever. The Railway opened on 15 September 1830 when William Huskisson MP was killed by an engine when going to greet the Duke of Wellington (who had remained in his carriage due to his unpopularity in Manchester).

The Grand Junction Railway was engineered by George, branching off the Liverpool-Manchester Railway at Newton-le-Willows and finishing initially at Vauxhall in Birmingham. Vauxhall, like Digbeth, was a Pleasure Garden charging one shilling entry (cf £1 p.w. average wage). The line approached Birmingham from the east because the terrain was easier. It avoided major towns along its route (eg Stoke, Wolverhampton) in order to keep costs down – and avoid expensive property compensation – but some local estate owners raised objections, eg James Watt, tenant of Aston Hall. Railway surveyors faced difficulties from hostile landlords and often used subterfuge, eg surveying on Sunday mornings when everyone was at church, or by firing guns to divert gamekeepers away from the land to be examined. Aston Viaduct was built where Aston Station is now. The Railway opened on 4 July 1837 with a train of eight 1^st Class (named) coaches leaving Vauxhall at 6.30am after a breakfast, and gradually accelerating to 35mph. A train of 2nd Class coaches left later in the day. William IV had died a few days earlier, so the directors had planned a low key opening, but the public would not be denied a great celebration. Crowds gathered all along the line and bands played, well before 6am.

Robert was the Engineer for the Birmingham-London Railway whose prospectus was published in 1833 following the Act of Parliament, necessary for all railway proposals. The two companies agreed to share a station to be built on the Nova Scotia market gardens owned by Earl Curzon. Curzon Street Station also served as an hotel: it still stands, but is now empty. Robert constructed the line with a maximum gradient of 1 in 300, so cuttings (eg Tring) and tunnels were needed. Kilsby Tunnel was 1.5 miles long and was not through clay as expected but quicksand, whose water took nearly two years to be pumped out. The line opened on 27 August 1838 with a train of four carriages leaving Birmingham at 6.30am and arriving in London at 1.15pm, having stopped to admire the Kilsby Tunnel.

The Stonebridge Railway from Whitacre to Hampton-in-Arden provided a link from the Derby-Birmingham line to London, enabling passengers from Derby to reach the capital. Construction of the northern section started in 1837, but the southern section had to be moved westwards due to the late decision by the Earl of Aylesford that it must avoid Packington Park. The line opened on 5 August 1839, Queen Victoria travelled on it in November 1843, but thereafter it declined as Derby passengers travelled to London via Leicester. It remained open until the early 1940s for goods traffic, and a section near Whitacre was used for the Royal Train to overnight up until the 1970s. The remains of Maxstoke Station, originally called Coleshill, still exist hidden in undergrowth.

The Gloucester-Birmingham Railway, terminating at Camp Hill, opened in 1841. Brunel had planned it to avoid the Lickey Hills, but another engineer was then appointed, and hence the Lickey Incline was built. It had a gradient of 1 in 38 and required banking engines. It is still the steepest gradient in the UK.

Gladstone was President of the Board of Trade when in 1844 he introduced the Railway Regulation Act. This curbed the excessive profits being made by the railway companies – which had engendered railway mania – by limiting dividends to 10%. It also introduced ‘Parliamentary Trains’ whereby each line had to have a daily train stopping at every station at a charge of not more than 1d per mile.

In 1854 New Street Station was opened to serve all the lines converging on Birmingham. It replaced the poorly located Curzon Street which also suffered from being a terminus. It is the most superb centrally located station surpassing all others in the Midlands, as well as Manchester. Today it is the eighth busiest in the UK (1 to 7 are all in London). The Act of Parliament for the Oxford-Birmingham Railway – initially broad gauge like all Great Western lines - stipulated that it should end in New Street and hence the Duddeston Viaduct was constructed. It was never used as a subsequent Act allowed the line to go into Snow Hill Station, opened in 1852. The Great Western Arcade was built above the tunnel from Moor Street. The original Solihull Station also opened in 1852. Several suburbs had their own stations, now abandoned. The Harborne line was a branch off the main railway to Wolverhampton which lasted until the 1930s, and whose track can still be walked today. Kings Heath Station was abandoned in WWII.

TEN MILES AROUND THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF YARDLEY

Talk given by Michael Byrne on 21 September 2015 to Solihull Local History Circle

Yardley was a very large parish (7,355 acres) in the diocese of Lichfield until 1905 (the Spark Brook was the boundary between Lichfield and Worcester). It was in Worcestershire until 1909. Yardley’s Charter dates from 972 and other important documents delineating its boundaries exist from 1495 and 1609. The Tythe Map of 1747 is also important. The parish’s southern boundary mainly follows small watercourses, whereas the north western side uses the River Cole. The priest with his parishioners would walk the bounds annually after Easter, and they were often mirrored on the other side of the boundary by a group from the neighbouring parish – this meant Kings Norton, Solihull and Sheldon. In 1972 on the Millennium of the Charter the Discovering Yardley Group, guided by John Morris Jones, walked the whole 20 miles.

The Spark Brook flows into the Cole and beyond Walford Road is now underground. The Brook then turns south under Stoney Lane. Belle Walk (The Greenway in 1495) was built in up in the 1920s, and Billesley (originally Bully) Lane forms the boundary. Bully Hall Farm is now Moseley Golf Course. The boundary goes south down Hollybank Road, on the Yardley side of which there is an earth platform on Billesley Common where prefabs were erected during WWII.

Yardley Wood was the last part of Yardley Manor to be cleared of forest and replaced by farms. Yardley Wood Road was called Days Lane in 1747. Christ Church was built in 1847 and made a separate parish out of Yardley. In 1877 James Ferne Webster, a metallurgist entrepreneur, built the Crown Works at Yardley Wood where aluminium was made for the first time in the world in 1881. The factory was demolished after manufacture was switched to Oldbury in 1888. The line of trees at Highters Heath Junior School marked the boundary, but it was altered later when the adjacent area around Hytall Road was transfered to Solihull. The boundary continues down the middle of Priory Road, but makes a curious narrow blip northwards mirroring the former long tailrace to Colebrook Priory Mill. Nethercote Gardens stands on the site of the mediaeval Colebrook Priory. Bampton Pool was originally its fish pond, but was also the back up to Yardley Wood Brook which served the mill (first recoded in 1495). The latter closed in 1919 and was demolished in 1965.

The boundary follows the Shirley Brook, now hidden between houses. It crosses the Stratford Road south of the Robin Hood roundabout (and the former tram terminal), and then goes NE up the Bridle Path to the middle of Redstone Road and Gospel Lane. The parallel Langley Hall Road was recorded as Langley Lane in 1609. Fox Hollies Park contains a Burnt Mound dating from 1500 BC. There are various theories as to what these were - a sauna, or used for a religious/medical purpose. Olton Boulevard was created in 1928. The boundary continues northwards across the Warwick Road, up Lincoln Road and across the Coventry Road. Then it runs along the back of the gardens in Wychwood Crescent. It went through the middle of Gilberstone House, occupied in 1495 by Richard Acock. Rebuilt in 1866, it was demolished in 1937 and replaced by an estate of houses costing £415 - £550. The Manor of Lyndon was a detached part of Bickenhill parish (which was transferred to Solihull only in 1874) and the Gilbert Stone – recorded in 1609 – was a parish boundary marker. It stood at 72 Saxondale Avenue, but is now at Blakesley Hall. The junction of Moat Lane with Elmscote Road, where the Gospel Oak (felled in the 1840s) marked the boundary where three parishes met – Yardley, Lyndon/Bickenhill and Sheldon. Lyndon Manor House was demolished in 1961. The Bilton Grange Road estate was built in 1935.

The boundary then goes up Barrows Lane to where an old entrance lodge still exists, and thence to Partridge Road, due east of Yardley Parish Church, near which ridge and furrow still survive.

JUNE 16^th 2015, HENWOOD PRIORY AND HALL, A JOINT TALK WITH THE SOLIHULL ARCHAEOLOGICAL GROUP, GIVEN BY LAURENCE INCE AT THE JOHN PALMER HALL.

This important medieval site is little known yet has a fascinating history. At the beginning of the reign of Henry II Ketelberne de Longdon gave land and helped found a priory for Benedictine nuns dedicated to St Margaret. It was a small foundation and at first it was named Estwell or Eltwell but later received the name of Henwood because of the tall oaks growing there. In 1228 Pope Gregory IX granted the nuns confirmation of their possessions including a virgate of land in Radbourne. The Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey bestowed on Henwood Priory in 1305 fifteen acres of waste in Longdon. The priory later received more gifts but its progress was curtailed in 1349 when the Black Death made its appearance in the area. In that year Henwood Priory had no prioress and only three nuns remained. Nine names are known of the prioresses of this foundation. These names suggest that they are mainly the younger daughters of Solihull land-owning families. The last prioress was Alice Hugford and in 1535 the annual value of the priory was just over £21. In 1536 at Henwood there was a prioress, a retired prioress and six nuns. In that year Henry VIII dissolved the smaller religious houses including Henwood. Alice Hugford, the prioress, was given an annual pension of £3 6s 8d in 1536 and she was still living in 1553. In 1540 the site and possessions of Henwood Priory were sold to John Hugford by the Crown for the sum of £207 5s.

It is obvious that the new owner of Henwood Priory was related to the last prioress. The Hugfords were well connected Warwickshire gentry. Sir John Hugford was steward to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. John Hugford, the son of the John Hugford who bought the priory was descended from this family through William Hugford of Princethorpe. He pulled down Henwood Priory church and transformed the buildings into a large rambling half-timbered hall. Hugford was returned to Parliament in 1593. He made his will in 1603, asking to be buried in the aisle of Solihull Church near his father and first wife. He wished to be buried under a gravestone of brass inscribed with the family’s arms and dates of death. As part of his will the poorest householders in Solihull were to receive a total of 40s. Henwood Hall then became owned by William Spooner who had married into the Hugford family.

In the 1820s Henwood Hall was demolished and little can be seen of the remains of the house or priory. A replacement house called Henwood Hall Farm was built at that time. Several images were shown of prints and watercolours of the building produced just before Henwood Hall was demolished. The Henwood site, which still boasts a converted mill, is an important part of Solihull’s heritage. It is the only site in the Solihull area that I know of that features in literature. A short story called Henwood Hall was published in the early 1820s in a journal named The Literary Lounger. The site is also famous as being one of the most haunted areas in Warwickshire and the West Midlands. It is said that at dusk near the River Blythe, you can be see a procession of spectral nuns, obviously the group that died at the time of the Black Death. When Henwood Hall was demolished the interior oak panelling was sold off. Some of the panelling ended up in Olton Hall and was later sold again in the 1920s. The panelling was bought by William Randolph Hearst, the American newspaper magnate. He was a great collector of historic architectural items. Hearst’s life was the basis of Orson Welles’s film Citizen Kane. The panelling was not used and was later sold off and spent much time stored in a cavern in America. The Henwood panels have now been reused to line a lawyer’s office in Kansas City.

Visit to Lord Leycester's Hospital, Warwick, the Evening of June 3rd 2015

Fourteen members of the Solihull Local History Circle spend a delightful evening being shown around this historic property in Warwick. We were guided around and entertained by Lt. Col. Gerald Lewinski, the Master of the Hospital. The weather was fine and after the tour the members were provided with sandwiches and tea in the Great Hall. For a complete history of this notable building see the earlier report of the talk given by Lt. Col. Lewinski to the Circle on May 16th, 2014.

JUN

THE HISTORY OF WIDNEY MANOR

Talk given by Edna Handley on 20 April 2015 to Solihull Local History Circle

Edna taught at Bentley Heath School in the late 1980s and needed local history material for the children’s projects. As the School Log Books had long since been lost, she began researching local records and collecting memories of the elder residents of the district.

William Yates’ 1” map of Warwickshire in 1787 was the first to show Bentley Heath. It was a triangular area of sand/gravel amidst the Mercian mudstone, and was closely linked with Widney whose moated Manor House – mentioned in a deed of 1289 – stood adjacent to the Tellewalle Brook. The latter formed one of its boundaries, the others being the River Blythe and the ‘great road from Longdon to Beaudesert’ (now Brown’s Lane). Moated homes were fashionable and others in the vicinity were Longdon Hall; Manor Farm on Four Ashes Road, the home of the Holbech family; The Chase on Smith’s Lane; Tilecross Lane Farm; and Bentley Farm in Mill Lane (demolished in 1960 – Dorridge Methodist Church now stands on the site).

In 1592 Widney Manor was forfeited to the Crown which, a few years later, granted or sold it to Thomas Holbech (1561-1639) of Manor Farm. William Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656) described Widney as ‘an ancient manor, though not a village’. Anthony Holbech (1662-1738) was the last of the family to live at the farm, by then known as Bentley Hall. It was shown on Henry Beighton’s 1” map of Warwickshire in 1725. Anthony married Jane Parsons, whose father was Lord Mayor of London in 1701. Only three of their children survived childhood, including Clapham, the only son, who disgraced himself by climbing St Alphege Church steeple. He left home to become a clerk in the West Africa Company and drowned in quicksands in The Gambia in 1739.

On Anthony’s death the Widney Manor estate was divided between his widow and daughters, Jane and Mary. It began to come together again when Thomas Heydon bought land, and this process was continued by John Smallwood of Handsworth who in 1839 bought out Thomas Heydon. John Stubbs inherited the estate in 1853 and built a new Manor House at Widney Farm at the south west end of Smiths Lane. This was shown on the 2^nd Edition of the Ordnance Survey in 1904. The outmoded Bentley Hall reverted to being Manor Farm. A south wing was added to the Tudor building and the whole was covered in plaster. Audrey & John Beamond lived in the house from 1924 to 1943 and the Millers 1943-1972.

John Stubbs died in 1876 and G.F.Muntz bought the estate which was divided by the coming of the railway in 1852. The last occupant of the new Manor House was Joseph Taunton JP who lived there from 1883 until his death in 1921. He supported Bentley Heath School and Mission Church where he met Jane Frances Short, the grand-daughter of Mary Holbech and Rev.Richard Mashiter (Hd.Master of Solihull School). Joseph married her as his third wife in 1908 when she was a spinster of 53. She continued to live at the Manor House until 1928 when there was a fire and the top floor completely gutted. It was removed by the new owner, Geoffrey Bird who farmed the land, and most of it was demolished in 1980.

The original Manor House next to the Tellewalle Brook remained uninhabited for many centuries until John Stubbs decided that the island formed by the moat would be ideal for breeding game birds. A keeper’s lodge was built nearby by 1876, when G.F.Muntz bought the land; on his death in 1898 Herman Schurhoff extended the lodge considerably to be Moat Farm. His daughter Ellen married Charles Martineau, Professor of Mathematics at Birmingham University, and they lived with their six children for 30 years there until 1958, when Mrs Martineau died. The property was bought by John & Barbara Chambers in 1989, who restored the house. Erica Martineau, the eldest daughter, visited them in 1991. The house is now Hogarths Hotel.

Many of the original road names were changed by Solihull Council in the 1930s. Blythe Lane became Widney Manor Road, Tile Cross Lane became Browns Lane, Rotten Row Road became Widney Road, and Bentley Heath Road became Mill Road. Over the years Widney has had three manor houses – the moated one beside the Tellewalle Brook mentioned in the 1289 deed; Manor Farm/Bentley Hall from the 1590s owned by the Holbeches; and Widney Farm/The Manor House from 1853 to 1928.

Visit to St Giles Church at Packwood 19th March 2015

On Thursday 19^th March a group of us from the Local History Circle came to the church for a guided tour from Trevor England. The church is hidden in trees some way from Packwood House, and so little visited. It has regular services and an active congregation and is kept open for visitors. Trevor knows the church well and so was able to tell us stories of the church history, and show us details like the signature of the carpenter who made the altar rail, and the remains of paint on the rood screen. St Giles mostly dates from the 13^th Century, with a tower added in the 15^th Century by Nicholas Broome of Baddesley Clinton, who also paid for a tower at St Michaels nearby as part of his penance for killing a priest. The church was modernised in the 19^th C, and some of the interior decoration, such as hatchements, were bought by Baron Ash for Packwood House, where they can be seen. Even so much of the earlier detail still remains. A 14^th doom painting on both sides of the Chancel arch has some parts still visible. The church has an old 12^th C font, rescued from a nearby farmyard. A large oak chest used as the old parish safe, made out of a single log, probably predates the church.Trevor showed us the signature and details of the man who carved the alter rails written in red ink underneath a rail, so probably not noticed for hundreds of years.We went into the Fetherston Chapel which contains memorials to the family, and also a vault. They built Packwood House in the late 16^th C and lived there until the last member died in 1864. Their coat of arms, with symbolic feathers, is found at a number of places in the church.On the west wall of the church is a monument, rescued from a church in Chessetts Wood which has been described in a Local History Circle talk some years back. It lists men who served in the Great War, both those who died and those who survived. The church tower has a peal of 8 bells, which can sometimes be heard at Packwood House, rung by local bell ringers. Outside the church Trevor pointed out a scratch sundial near the porch, and the memorial to Graham Baron Ash in a corner of the graveyard. Spring flowers were starting to show in the grass around the church, so completing an excellent and informative visit for our party. Many thanks to Trevor for being such a enthusiastic and informative guide.

A.P.

25/3/15

SOME TIMBERED BUILDINGS in CENTRAL SOLIHULL

Talk given by Allan Evans and Trevor England on 16 March 2015 to Solihull Local History Circle

Alan’s talk started with Radcliffe’s Print of 1829 (the earliest known) showing the High Street, with chickens in the road, looking towards St Alphege Church. There were four pubs (only The Mason’s Arms still survived) within that short distance. Lime Tree House, so called because of the trees in front of it, was now known as The Manor House. The print showed a horse drawn carriage turning into the narrow Mill Lane (then called New Street) where Fairfields had a haulage business.

The pictures taken by Allan, aged 12 in 1962, showed exteriors of buildings in Mill Lane now demolished. No 5, Black’s Cottage, where Barclays Bank is today; then Nos 13-15 (Marks & Spencer) which was originally one substantial building. The Public Elementary School for Boys (aged 8-14[1]) opened in 1891 at a cost of £2,500. Designed by the famous Birmingham architect W.H. Bidlake (1851-1938) - who also designed the War Memorial - for up to 250 boys, the average attendance was apparently only 130. It closed in 1938, on amalgamation with the Girls School in Park Road which had more land available, and became the Parish Hall up until the 1960s when the Oliver Bird Hall opened. The Rima (nobody understood its name) was a bakery in a mediaeval building. Its owners also sold bread and cakes in another mediaeval building on the corner of Drury Lane/High Street. This was damaged by a bomb in WWII and then became The White Cat Restaurant (now an estate agent’s). In the High Street Harborne House was dated 1571 (although dendrochronolgy has proved it was much earlier). At the time of the photo it had the fascia ‘Solihull Seeds’; previously it had been Hawkesford & Napier, also a horticultural shop, and subsequently was a wine bar. There was a stone lined well at the rear but no trace of this was found when the building was restored in 2000 at the entrance to Touchwood.

Trevor explained the construction and age of these, and other, buildings. Unseasoned timber was always used which would harden over the years. The structure was prefabricated, the parts numbered and then erected on the site. There were no foundations apart from a brick sill. The houses could be, and were, moved as the owner of the house did not necessarily own the land on which they stood. The timbers were held together by mortice and tenon with wooden pegs, never nails. In the 16^th century brick infill replaced wattle and daub, which housed insects and rats.

No 5 Mill Lane was originally jettied and an interior photo revealed a tie beam and a wind brace. Rear views of Nos 13-15 showed three catslides added in the 19^th century. The large timbers used proved that the original owners were not bothered by cost. The six cottages (where Argos is now) still had their vertical timbers, although brickwork covered the rest of the frontage. One of the original chimneys survived so maybe it was a hall house. In Drury Lane on its corner with Warwick Road the Tanyard Cottages (demolished 1962) were brick fronted but the roofline suggested something much older. Southwards ‘The Gazebo’ of Touchwood Hall showed clearly in a photo taken during the 1960s redevelopment. The Hall was rebuilt in 1712 but the chimneys proved that the hearths of the original mediaeval building could not be moved. A demolition photo of The Rima showed the truss and close rafters – not a ridge beam – besides wattle and daub of the original structure.

In the High Street the Masons’ Arms now has a Georgian frontage, but mediaeval timbering was still visible at the rear of the building. The Gardeners’ Arms (demolished in 1971) had fake timbering on top of a brick skin behind which was the original timber framed house. The Gothic fronted house (now the Café Rouge) was an original timber framed house, as shown by its roofline and chimney (the hearth was still inside). The Manor House – built in the late 15^th century by the Greswolds - was originally two buildings, as the west end belonged to the next door house.

Solihull had been rich in mediaeval timber framed buildings but many have been demolished over the years, especially in the 1960s development. Several of those that remained had been covered with brick facings, so only a few still reveal their original timbering.

[1] The school leaving age at this period

WILLIAM SHENSTONE of HALESOWEN

Talk given by Audrey Duggan on 16 February 2015 to Solihull LHC

William Shenstone was a talented man of many parts – a poet, gentleman of letters and a garden designer – who loved his dog, Lucy. He was born at Halesowen on 18 November 1714 the son of Thomas, a yeoman farmer, and Anne – whose aristocratic family lived at Harborough Hall, near Rugby. He was very bright and would ask for books rather than toys as presents. He went to Dame Sarah Lloyd’s School, about which (in 1742) he wrote The School

Mistress. She gave each child she birched a lollipop immediately afterwards. Then, because of his precociousness, he went as a weekly boarder to Solihull Grammar School (where a house is today named after him). There he met Richard Jago (1715-81), the son of the Rector of Beaudesert, who became a life long friend. William’s father died when he was 10 and his mother eight years later. He, and his younger brother Joseph, went to live with his mother’s sister who was married to the Rev. Thomas Dalman, the Rector of Broom near Kidderminster. The church had a bell mounted on an adjacent tree, and William could not resist pulling it. The Dolmans had two children, Thomas and Maria (1733-54) with whom William later fell in love, but nothing came of it. William went up to Pembroke College, Oxford, and Jago to University College as a Servitor (ie a serving student) as his father refused to pay the full fees.

At Oxford William met Richard Graves (1715-1804) who also became a lifelong friend, and was later to be the Vicar of Claverton near Bath. But William disliked the discipline of his college, preferring parties, and left after two years. He went to live at Harborough Hall before he inherited from his father’s family the 140 acre Leasowes Estate, south of Halesowen. The house was a simple two up/two down cottage, which William extended. Lord Lyttleton of nearby Hagley Hall wrote a letter of welcome, but another neighbour – the Rev. Pynson Wilmot, vicar of Halesowen 1732-84, a petty tyrant both in the pulpit and elsewhere, forbade William to walk across his land. His housekeeper was Mary Arnold, an efficient country woman who was devoted to William and nursed him when necessary. All his friends liked her. Mary Cutler, the maid, was literate and succeeded Mary Arnold as housekeeper in 1745 – remaining in that position until William’s death. Another faithful servant was Tom, who carried out William’s garden designs and supervised a group of workmen.

William always wanted to be recognised as a gentleman of letters rather than as a gardener. His first book of verse was published whilst he was still at Oxford. He wrote The Pastoral Ballad following an amour during his two month visit to Cheltenham in 1743, besides many other poems over the years. The Pensees were a collection of his thoughts on people, politics and religion, not originally intended for publication.

He began to convert part of his farmland into a large garden in 1743. The fashion for formal gardens, with their symmetry and manicured lawns, had declined and William preferred a more natural style, using contours of the land and working with stone indigenous to its area and trees. Ungravelled paths meandered, grottoes were constructed, water features harnessed, and vistas (with appropriate seating) planned. He also introduced features of the Roman garden, most notable Virgil’s Grove. Unusually for the period, his garden was open free to the public, but visitors had to follow a certain route and sit to admire the views. William enjoyed meeting people in his garden and was annoyed by those who picked the flowers, particularly the bluebells. Rather than erect a painted notice, he penned a poem In Cool Grot and pinned the sheets of paper to a strip of deal. The literate read it out to the illiterate and very soon the pilfering ceased. [The Garden is currently being restored].

In 1759/60 William had his portrait painted by Edward Alcock of Birmingham. Sadly they came to dislike each other and William complained that his depiction was too fat. He refused to pay, although he eventually settled the matter.

William died on 11 February 1763 at The Leasowes, probably of pneumonia. He was buried on the 15^th but, apart from Mary Arnold and Mary Cutler, few came to his funeral. His grave in Halesowen churchyard is next to his beloved brother Joseph, who had died in 1751 aged only 29. In his Will William left most of his money to Mary Cutler, from whom he had borrowed over the years, and £12pa to the aged Mary Arnold. The two women lived together at Ivey Farm, which had been one of William’s properties.

THE HISTORY of SOLIHULL HOSPITAL

Talk given on 19 January 2015 by Joy Woodall to Solihull Local History Circle

The 1601 Poor Law stipulated that the poor had to be helped by the payment of money and/or goods, the costs being raised by a compulsory levy on all parishioners based on their land holdings. Everyone capable of working should do so, and the idea of a special building, or workhouse, where the poor could live and work together under proper supervision, grew up: the first was in Bristol in 1696. In Solihull a public meeting in April 1740 decided that a Parish Workhouse was needed. Thomas Sandal erected a two storey building on the north side of the Warwick Road, with a long room, kitchens, an infirmary, and 20 beds on the first floor. It opened in 1742. The building still exists, now with attics and is used as offices. Solihull was a large rural parish in 1801 with 11,500 acres but only 2,500 people. It had a free school and a doctor (John Short), but the market had ceased to exist. By 1831 the population had risen by 400, and across the UK there were 10 million poor people – caused by inflation and the numbers of discharged soldiers.

The 1834 Poor Law replaced individual parish workhouses by Union Workhouses for a group of parishes. They were run by an elected Board of Guardians, controlled by Commissioners in London, although local ratepayers still provided the funds. The Guardians employed staff, eg a Master of the Workhouse, Medical Officer, and others. The Solihull Union included 11 parishes: Solihull, Knowle, Temple Balsall, Baddesley Clinton, Packwood, Lapworth, Nuthurst, Barston, Elmdon, Tamworth and Yardley. The Guardians bought two acres of land and built a new Union workhouse, entered from Union Road. The building, planned like a prison, opened in September 1838 and housed 125 paupers. No money was given out and conditions inside were deliberately harsh. Males were separated from females (even if married) and each had seven categories (based on age) housed in different wings with individual yards. No communication between the categories was allowed. Inmates got up at 5.45am and went to bed at 8pm. Three meals were provided daily but the food, cooked by the female inmates, was only at subsistence level. The men worked in the gardens and broke stone. Children were taught in the Workhouse or at a local school. The curate came frequently to give religious instruction.

Because of the number of aged and sick inmates, the Infirmary wards were inadequate, so they were enlarged with 16 wooden beds. But there were no facilities to isolate fevers until 1846 when a garden shed was converted for this purpose. Dr Lowe, the Medical Officer, was supposed to make regular visits besides inspecting each new inmate, but rarely did so. He eventually resigned in 1869 after 31 years. In his absence the Workhouse nurse was in charge, assisted only by the female inmates. Tramps, due under the Poor Law to be given food and shelter for a night, were a problem as the Guardians had made no provision for them originally. In 1867 there were 67 per week and by 1905 the average had risen to 265. They loitered beside The Golden Lion on the corner of Warwick and Union Road until admitted. They were housed in the fever shed, which had to be enlarged several times.

Despite other extensions the Workhouse was always overcrowded. The Guardians gave priority to economy. Eventually four acres of land between the Workhouse and Lode Lane were purchased and a new two storey Infirmary was built by Braggs to accommodate 64 patients. It cost £12,000 and opened in 1898. A new tramps’ block to match the Infirmary was also built within the original boundary, as was a new laundry, but plans for a new kitchen and a chapel were shelved. Land was bought in 1902 at Marston Green for a small- pox hospital which opened in 1904 for 16 patients. An isolation hospital at Catherine-de-Barnes opened in 1910, which helped with the diphtheria/scarlet fever epidemic that year. It became acknowledged that children should no longer live in the Workhouse: The Woodlands at Hampton-in-Arden was rented from 1904 to house 12 girls and a foster mother; two years later a similar house for 12 boys was acquired. ‘Idiot’ children were sent to Middlefield in Knowle. A telephone was installed in 1902, and a new Master’s House was built in 1907.

In 1911 compulsory National Insurance was introduced for workers which provided free medical treatment to the contributors, but not to their families. In 1912 there were 200 in the Union Workhouse; by 1921 322. Apart from the latter’s Infirmary, Solihull had no hospital but funds for one started to be raised in the late 1920s. In 1926 the Board of Guardians was abolished and the Workhouse passed to the Warwickshire County Council which, a decade later bought three houses on Lode Lane for expansion: Wayside became a nurses’ home, Northwood was used for maternity and Arden for Workhouse purposes. Solihull Urban District Council was created in 1932 with boundaries larger than the original parish, and pressure for a hospital mounted – especially with the approach of war. The Workhouse Infirmary was designated an emergency hospital in 1939. It had little equipment, eg few surgical instruments (so Dr Watson ordered these from the suppliers, the bill for £750 going direct to the Warwickshire C.C. which accused him of gross extravagance); and no x-Ray machine – patients being taken to Dr Quinet’s house in the Warwick Road.

When the National Health Service started in 1948, Solihull Hospital – together with seven others – was controlled by the Birmingham Hospital Management Committee. Dr Harold Watson, who had come from Birmingham in 1941, was the Hospital Superintendent; he gave the tramps 6d each telling them never to return. Dr Quinet was the consultant surgeon, with eight senior and six resident junior doctors. Miss Windridge, the Matron, had 65 full time and 77 part time nurses. The hospital controlled a number of homes previously used by other organisations, including Brook House in Lode Lane, a maternity unit used by local GPs; Catherine-de-Barnes hospital also used for maternity; and Eastcote Grange at Barston was a convalescent home. New facilities were added eg operating theatres, a pathology laboratory and a dispensary.

Many people came to the Hospital as outpatients – the number had grown to 72,000 in 1953. Facilities were poor but over the years improvements were made, eg in 1959 a new reception area with 40 seats and a tea bar was built for £30,000. The Friends of Solihull Hospital was founded in 1953 and over the years has provided volunteers to help patients and raised funds. A staff canteen in Union Road was financed, and in 1960 £3,000 was given for a bedlift to the upper floors (previously those who could not manage the stairs had to be carried).

In 1966 smallpox was widespread across the Midlands, so mothers and babies were moved from Catherine-de-Barnes which reverted to being a fever hospital. In 1972 the new maternity block, five storeys high came into use. The Duchess of Gloucester was due to open it but, due to her eldest son’s death in an air accident, the ceremony was postponed by three months by which time 1,500 babies had been born in the unit. But the Hospital faced financial problems, Eastcote Grange was closed, and there were disputes within the NHS on spending priorities. Nevertheless a District General Hospital was promised at a cost of £10m with work starting in 1987. The forecast was later revised to £27m, starting in 1991, and many campaigns successfully raised funds to reduce the burden on the NHS, The new Hospital finally opened in 1994. Sadly control passed to Heartlands Hospital in 1996.

SLHC MEMBERS’ TALKS : 15 DECEMBER 2014

A SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY, by ALLAN EVANS

11 March 1954 was the date on which Solihull was created a Borough. Princess Margaret, on behalf of The Queen, presented the Charter of Incorporation to the Mayor Designate. She arrived by train at Solihull Station and was driven, in a motorcade of five cars, to the Odeon Cinema in Shirley – the only venue in the Borough large enough to accommodate the ceremony. Her route was along Blossomfield Road, then a country lane. Her car slowed outside Tudor Grange, now a Special School, whose children lined the verge to see her wave to them. Allan, aged 3 ½, was amongst them. Charter Day was also marked by the construction of the ceremonial gates into Brueton Park from New Road. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Cooper, wife of Clr.R.D.Cooper, the last Chairman of the Urban District Council and Mayor Designate. Clr. Wright, who funded many gifts to the Borough, paid the construction costs.

PINFOLD FARM, by TREVOR ENGLAND and EDNA HANDLEY

Trevor had examined the timber framed construction both externally and internally. Its heavy, good quality timbers (cut when green and hardened as they dried out in situ), with chamfering and stopping on the main supporting beams, built around a central chimney stack, meant that it had been built between 1560 and 1640 for a yeoman farmer before the Civil War. [This caused great distress to ordinary people with soldiers stealing produce, horses and other livestock, besides damaging buildings. Prince Rupert and his cavalry came through Solihull in 1642 and Shirley in 1643; Stratford-on-Avon was plundered four times and Warwick only escaped because Lord Brooke lived there]. The square panels between the timber work were filled with wattle and daub (which was lime washed regularly to kill insects and reduce draughts), later replaced by bricks – longer and thinner than today’s types – for better insulation. The roof had wind braces which were not essential but added to the occupants’ status. The catslide was added 100 years later to provide more storage space for the three ground floor rooms.

Edna explained that ‘Pinfold’ meant a pen for stray animals. This was Longden Manor’s pinfold and would have had a cottage for the keeper. The first documented reference, to what had become a farm, was in the will of John Davis dated 11 February 1711. He bequeathed the messuage and it’s appurtenances to his mother, Jane, and after her demise to his five sisters equally. John was buried at St Alphege on 24 February 1711, his sister Elizabeth on 26 March and his mother on 7 April 1711, probably due to a local epidemic. The farm (not named) was shown in William Yates’ one inch map of Warwickshire in 1788.

In 1794 William Lewin bought Pinfold Farm from John Winfield, a large property owner in Birmingham and Solihull, who had owned it since the Land Tax records began in 1781. The occupier from 1781 was Samuel Wood who continued until 1796 when William Lewin came to live there. The service end of the house became a separate cottage where Sarah Wood, the widow or daughter of Samuel, resided. Sarah continued to live there until 1815, when John Wood followed her until 1831. William Lewin died in 1820; his widow became the owner and sold it to Thomas Chattock in 1832. The Chattock family continued ownership until 1937, but only Edward Chattock lived there briefly 1904-06. He was a fruit farmer, who used the orchard and erected glasshouses on Seed Furlong (on the other side of Hampton Lane) which William Lewin had bought under the Enclosure Award in 1820.

In 1938 Warwickshire County Council planned a by-pass whose eastern line went down Marsh Lane and would have destroyed Pinfold Farm yard. That section was never built. Philip Skelcher, a Birmingham architect, bought the property that year and, like the Chattocks, had a series of tenants in what were now called Pinfold Cottages. In 1953 Claude May, a racing driver, bought the cottages and lived in one with his wife, Joan, until 1972. He converted his barn into a three car garage. The other cottage was rented by Basil Izzard, a coal merchant, from 1945 to 1973; he kept coal in his barn. The Mays sold the property by auction in 1972 to Peter & Patricia Hammond who lived there. He was an architect who covered one of the timber framed walls in brick and added a buttress – something that would not have been allowed after the property was Grade II Listed in 1976. Listed Building Consent was given in January 1980 for an extension to ‘the derelict cottage’ to form a three bedroomed house. This is now 32A Hampton Lane; Pinfold Farm retains its entrance from Marsh Lane.

The Hammonds sold Pinfold Farm in 1981 to Stanley & Sheila Hodgkinson who, after two years, sold it to John & Susan Owen. He was an optician. They left in 2011 when it was bought by Daniel Ruiz. After considerable internal refurbishment and giving much help to Trevor and Edna in their research, he sold it in 2014.

HENLEY-in-ARDEN and THE GREAT WAR

Talk by Douglas Bridgewater on 17 November 2014 to Solihull LHC

Henley-in-Arden had a population of 1,200 in 1911 which made it possible for most inhabitants to know each other, and eased research. Pictures showed a largely deserted High Street, in which the North Warwickshire Hunt could meet outside the vicarage (now Barclay’s Bank), and from which two of its many pubs – The White Horse and The Bear – have now disappeared. St John’s Church lost its spire in 1910.

In 1909 The War Office scheme for Voluntary Aid was introduced to assist the Territorial Army Medical Services. 6,000 civilians volunteered within its first year. Henley had two VA Detachments - one for men, the other for women – both instructed by Dr Ernest Nicholson, the local GP. The latter (1871-1933) had attended Arden House School, run by his father, in Henley before going to Haileybury, Clare College Cambridge, and St Thomas’ Hospital London where he qualified in 1900. Henley’s Public Hall & Institute opened in 1908, with a seating capacity of 430 – and a rifle range. These facilities were used as a hospital for other ranks throughout the Great War. On 6 August 1914 the two VADs, numbering 28 men and 19 women, gave a demonstration, in which the local boy Scouts acted as the wounded.

The first wounded soldiers from various regiments, including the Cameron Highlanders, arrived via Birmingham on 21 November 1914. There were 22 beds, but the number had increased to 40 by 1916 when an extension also created an operating theatre. In addition, 30 beds were available in Wooton Hall, then owned by the Guinness family. In an age before antibiotics, Dr Nelson was convinced that fresh air helped heal wounds. An 8 bed open air ward was built in four days, being the first such facility in the UK. Until the hospital closed in April 1919, 1,500 war wounded were treated, with only two deaths, by 30 VAD nurses and 30 auxiliaries – mainly women as the men were conscripted – all unpaid volunteers.

Haldane’s Army reforms included the 1907 Territorial Force Act. In Warwickshire the Territorial Army comprised the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, the Warwick Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery, and the Yeomanry. The latter dated back to 1794, had served in the Boer War, and had squadrons at Birmingham, Kineton, Leamington and Stratford-on-Avon – which included a group of volunteers from Henley (notably Sgt Major Harris and his three sons). All volunteers had to attend 40 training days in their first year ( reduced to 20 in the second and subsequent years) and a fortnight’s camp held from 1909 onwards. They were paid at full army rates during camp. All units were mobilised by telegram sent out at 6.30pm on 4 August 1914, ie several hours before war was declared. Warwicks Yeomanry served in East Anglia, Egypt 1915, then as an infantry unit at Gallipoli, and as a machine gun unit in Sinai and Syria. Kitchener realised that the war would not be over quickly and stipulated that recruits should serve for three years. His famous poster encouraged 300,000 men to volunteer in August 1914, with a further 700,000 by the end of that year. The Royal Warwicks formed 3 Battalions at Warwick and another 3 in Birmingham (The Pals). The latter 4,500 were largely middle class as only non-manual workers were encouraged to volunteer. Conscription was introduced in January 1916 for unmarried men aged 18-41 (later increased to 52).

180 Henley men served in WWI forces, of whom 29 died. John Horsely, a local groom and married for 14 years in 1911, volunteered for the Yeomanry and served at Gallipoli. He returned to become a member of Henley’s fire Brigade and died in 1941. His son Geoffrey was conscripted into the Royal Berkshire Regiment in 1917, but was severely wounded and discharged in 1919. He married in 1926, lived in Coventry and died in 1963.

Harry Hawkes was a Henley butcher who had served – as had his father – with the Yeomanry. His son, Percy (1891-1973), was a Serjeant in the Yeomanry when he served at Gallipoli; he was transferred to the Labour Corps after being wounded, and was discharged in April 1919. His younger brother, Jack, a bank cashier in 1911 and a member of the VAD, joined the Yeomanry in 1914 and served in East Anglia as a riding instructor. Commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment, he went to France in June 1918 and died of wounds in September. Arden Cottrell attended King Edward’s School, Birmingham, where he was in the Officers’ Training Corps. He was commissioned in May 1915 into the Royal Warwicks, and went to France a year later. An Acting Captain, he won the MC in 1917 at the Battle of the Somme but was badly wounded and taken prisoner in June 1918. He died in August and was buried in Cologne. At the time of his death he was engaged to Marjorie Hawkes, the younger sister of Percy and Jack.

The three Huggards were brothers. Leslie (1892-1960), son of a Henley postman, joined the Coldstream Guards before 1911. One of the ‘Old Contemptibles’, he was wounded at Mons in 1914. He was wounded again in 1915. He married in 1918 and became a Police Constable in Henley. Cyril (1894-1923) joined the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1911. He landed at St Nazaire in 1914 but was seriously wounded soon afterwards and repatriated to England where his right arm had to be amputated. He married in 1915 and was discharged in 1916. Gordon (1897-1952) enlisted in the Royal Warwicks in 1914 and was commissioned into the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry a year later. In 1918 he transferred to the RFC as a Flying Officer and in the early 1920s was serving with 31 Squadron RAF at Mhow in India.

Gerald Sladen was not a Henley man but, as a Captain in the Rifle Brigade, was transferred to be the Adjutant of the 8^th Royal Warwicks, and commanded the Battalion in France from 1915. He was much decorated in 1916 with a DSO in January, MC in June, and a bar to his DSO in July. That autumn he was promoted Brigadier General in command of the 143^rd Infantry Brigade. He was awarded the CMG on 1 January 1919 and a CB later that year when he retired from the Army. Gerald and his wife, son and two daughters lived at Hillfield, Liveridge Hill, Beaudesert during the war years, but on retirement moved to Kenya where he died in 1930.

At the other end of the spectrum was Samuel Elvins (1895-1956) of Solihull, a gardener, who enlisted in 1915 in the Royal Warwicks. He arrived at Etaples in May 1916 and a year later was blown up in a trench and buried. He was extricated, hospitalised in England and sent back to the trenches despite suffering severe shell shock. He was repatriated again and discharged in March 1917 when he was issued with a Silver War Badge (issued to those discharged with wounds to avoid female civilians giving them White Feathers). Dr Agar of Henley then employed him as a gardener but, unaware of Samuel’s war record, wrote to the District Tribunal suggesting he should join the Army. The Tribunal agreed, but his records were eventually located and he was not called on to re-enlist.

RIVER, CANAL AND FLOOD IN KINGS NORTON

Talk given by Michael Byrne on 20 October 2014 to Solihull LHC

Meercroft Pool appeared in the late 19^th century in waterlogged ground. The Cadbury family later acquired the surrounding land and the Pool is now in the Kings Norton Nature Reserve owned by Birmingham City Council. Its excellent notices explain much local history besides the natural environment. Its water features are the River Rea, a feeder to the Worcester-Birmingham Canal and the Wychall Reservoir. The Kings Norton Tythe Map of 1843 showed these clearly, and the 1901 Ordnance Survey revealed the railways and urbanisation since that time.

Wychall was a reservoir formed from the river for the rolling mill, never for the canal. The latter took its water from the river (a still contentious issue between British Waterways and the City). The canal disgorged stagnant water further down the river and closer to Pershore Road South, where there was a corn mill which continued to work until the 1940s.

Construction of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal began at Kings Norton in 1793 to link with the Worcester Canal; the latter’s continuation to Birmingham was not completed until three years later. The Junction house initially dealt with the tolls for both canals, but after a few years the Stratford company built a separate one. All the canals were wide but, due to a shortage of money, the Stratford canal was narrowed in 1814 when the Guillotine Lock was installed. The Kings Norton Baptist Church stands on the bank and decided in 1925 to use the canal for total immersion baptisms. The stageing erected for the ministers and congregation collapsed into the water, much to the delight of onlookers on the adjacent bridge.

The Kings Norton Brick Company’s kilns were next to the Worcester Canal and provided bricks for the original Masshouse Lane bridge, and also for the Kings Norton Tunnel which is two miles long. Construction started in 1792 with the sinking of shafts along its line, through which the spoil was brought up and scattered over the surrounding ground. This accounts for its undulations. 10 million bricks were used, and the tunnel opened in 1794. Barges were taken through by hand pushing on the dirty roof and the horses taken over the hill by a path, which still exists today surrounded by housing estates. Later steam barges were used which made the canal roof extremely dirty. The north portal is pretentious, in strong contrast to the unadorned south portal. In 1964 two boys in a canoe were overcome by the cold inside the tunnel and died, whilst another tragedy occurred in 1978 when two workmen were killed when a hidden shaft collapsed. The tunnel only reopened in 1981.

The Worcester & Birmingham Canal Company, like many others, was short of money and leased its west bank from Bournville northwards to the railway – a competitor which was soon to destroy its commercial traffic. Cadbury’s had at one time transferred goods from canal boats to its private railway. The Lifford Lift Bridge was damaged in WWII and replaced by its owners, the Great Western Railway, with a fixed bridge which prevented most boats going beneath it. A protest was mounted on 20 May 1947 resulting in a swing bridge being installed. This has now disappeared and the current bridge allows passage of all boats.

In 1927 heavy rains caused the River Rea to rise dramatically. The Wychall Reservoir retaining wall was breached and water flooded the surrounding area. A six yard wide stream became a 200 yard wide torrent. Westhill Road Bridge was washed away and a bus was marooned. Some of its passengers carried the women and children to safety – watched by crowds of onlookers. Major flooding occurred again each year form 1998 to 2000. Middlemore and Station Roads in Northfield were badly inundated. The river could not be deepened due to old legal requirements to provide water for the mills, but much of the flood plain had been built over.Wychall Reservoir is now largely dry and a bird reserve, so is deliberately protected against the worst of the flooding. The old headrace to the former corn mill is now used for flood control, and the river itself is tunnelled south east of the Lifford Reservoir which had been built to feed it.

THE HISTORY of SOLIHULL POST OFFICE

Talk given by Nigel Cameron on 15 September 2014 to Solihull SLHC

Monarchs had run mail services for many years. Henry VIII appointed Brian Tuke in 1512 as Court Postmaster and, over 30 years, he developed the Six Great Roads from London along which ‘postboys’ on horses carried letters. Royal Mail is derived from the French word ‘Malle’ = leather pouch. There were 28 stages (at which the horse was changed) to Edinburgh; the other routes included Holyhead and Milford Haven (for Ireland), Falmouth (for America and Africa) and Dover (for Europe). Outside an office was the post to which the waiting horse was tied. In 1572 Tuke’s successor, Thomas Randolph, arranged for the Birmingham mail to be taken off at Coleshill.

In 1635 Charles I opened the Royal Mail to the public. All letters were brought to London for charging and then sent out again. The charges, paid by the recipient, were 2d per folded sheet for up to 80 miles, 4d for 80-120 miles, etc. A merchant called William Dockwra introduced a local delivery for 1d (payable by the sender or recipient) in London in 1680, which was taken over by the PO in 1682. Joseph Quash, Postmaster Exeter, started the Cross Posts by sending letters direct to Bristol (later to Chester). This idea was greatly extended by Ralph Allen of Bath, who introduced mail coaches in 1784 which resulted in higher charges. The only PO employee aboard each was the guard with horn, gun and timepiece. The London-Holyhead mail was routed via Warwick and Birmingham from 1785. In 1765 Parliament allowed the larger towns to establish their own Penny Posts. Birmingham introduced its local delivery service, including Solihull, Knowle and Shirley, in 1793 – but the minimal charge was 2d.

Although no record survives, it is thought that Mr Capner was appointed ‘Receiver’ at Solihull that year. when he died on 7 August 1808 the inhabitants petitioned Mrs Gotweiler, Postmaster Birmingham, for his daughter to take over. The Postmaster General (PMG) agreed and she was appointed at £12 p.a. Inflation caused by the Napoleonic Wars caused charges to rise in 1812 with 4d up to 15 miles, 5d to 20 miles, etc. John McAdam’s work on roads from 1816 enabled coaches to go faster. By 1836 the London mail arrived in Solihull at 0630. In that year the PMG agreed that Solihull should be a Post Town – a place where all mail for the locality had to be sorted. This was the basis of the address system until postcodes were introduced in the 1960s/1970s.

Mail coaches were superseded by railways: the first train to carry mail ran on 11 November 1830. The first Travelling Post Office (a train on which letters were sorted) ran from Birmingham to Liverpool on 6 January 1838. In 1840 reforms suggested by Rowland Hill, a schoolmaster born in Kidderminster, were introduced. Postage was paid by the sender at 1d per half ounce, whatever the distance. The first postage stamp in the world – the Penny Black – was issued on 5 May.

Ann Capner continued as Receiver at Solihull until 1850. After two Harbournes, William Pearman was appointed in 1857 with premises at 46 High Street (now part of Macdonalds). He was followed by his daughter, Ruth, in 1871 who continued until 1911, when the well known photo of her and her eight staff was taken outside the office. Solihull is unusual in that all the buildings in which the Post Office has been since 1857 still survive.

With a population of 9,500, the PMG decided in 1911 that a full time employee was required as Postmaster of Solihull. Harry Clewlow was appointed at a salary of £130 p.a. The Post Office was relocated to 707 Warwick Road (The Hawthorns, former home of the Heatons, with a front extension). Successive Postmasters there were Ernest Richardson (1920) and J.W.Townley (1929). By 1939 the latter’s salary was £350 p.a.; he retired in 1944. A new purpose built Post Office, adjacent to open fields in Station Road, opened in 1942. It moved to its present site on Mell Square in 1968 when W.G. Simpson became the Postmaster (salary £2,110). After him five more Postmasters were appointed. Mrs Myra Holmes was the last, as Postmasters were abolished in 1986 with the division of the PO into Royal Mail, Parcelforce, and Post Office Counters Ltd, each with separate local managers.

In 1857 Solihull had 11 sub offices, by 1968 there were 31. Most have remained open over the years, but many have moved location. Knowle Station was superseded by Dorridge, although the latter closed in 2004 as did many others in subsequent years. After the Rowland Hill reforms, the number of letters grew dramatically. In 1840 there were 170m p.a.; in 1853 411m. So more posting facilities were needed. Anthony Trollope, a PO Surveyor and later the novelist, recommended posting boxes, so four were erected in St Helier (Jersey) in 1852. New Street Station had one in 1855, the year that London got six. Up until 1874 they were painted green. The earliest box in Solihull at Dog Kennel Lane dates from 1857; only three others of that design survive, all in Malvern. Other old boxes locally are the ‘Anonymous Cylindrical’ (ie no royal monogram) of 1880 in St Bernard’s Road, and a wall box of 1896 at Catherine de Barnes. The royal monogram alternates between capitals and script in successive reigns: currently capitals are used. The nearest (rare) Edward VIII box is at Coleshill.

The earliest postmark was ‘PP6’ for the Birmingham Penny Post in 1793; the first reading Solihull in a straight line was in 1829. A circular mark was introduced in 1837, with the date inserted from 1839 – all before postage stamps in 1840. In 1902 the inscription read ‘Solihull Birmingham’ and was used for over 50 years, although it was wrong as Solihull was a Post Town. It was corrected to ‘Solihull Warwickshire’ in 1956 and to ‘Solihull West Midlands’ in 1974. This survives now only at the Mell Square counter as all mail datestamping and sorting was moved to Birmingham in 1990. Solihull sorting office had its first mechanical stamp cancelling machine (a Krag) in 1937, and Shirley in 1946. Both offices were updated with faster Universal machines in the 1950s. Postcodes were introduced at Norwich in 1959. Birmingham had them in 1970, but Solihull not until November 1972.

LORD LEYCESTER HOSPITAL, WARWICK

Talk given by Lt.Col. Gerald Lewinski, Master, on 16 May 2014 to Solihull LHC

Roger de Newbury founded the Chapel of St James above the West Gate in 1126. The latter was called the Hanging Gate as the public gallows were immediately outside. The chapel was both for travellers and as a chantry for his wife who had died young. In 1386 the chapel was given to the Guild of St George which soon amalgamated with the Guild of Holy Trinity and the Guild of the Blessed Mary to form the United Guilds of Warwick. This body built the Guildhall, the Master’s House (refaced externally c1850) and the Chaplain’s Lodging around the Courtyard by 1420; Warwick the Kingmaker (1428-71) built the Great Hall. After Henry VIII had dissolved the monasteries, he turned on the charities. Thomas Oken, Mercer and Mayor of Warwick, was living in the Master’s House as Master of the United Guilds. He transferred ownership of the buildings to the Burgesses, and so avoided their sequestration. The Guildhall was used for meetings of the Burgesses, and Warwick School also used the buildings.

John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, was created Duke of Northumberland by Henry VIII, who wished him, as a Protestant, to guide his young successor Edward VI. But the latter died aged only 15 and Dudley, thinking wrongly that the country would not accept the Catholic Mary as monarch, proposed his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey. Dudley was executed in 1553 along with his son and Lady Jane. He had three other sons, including Robert (1532-85), already imprisoned in the Tower of London. Elizabeth, the future Queen, also lived in the Tower and, being virtually the same age, they became close friends – although Robert was already married. On Mary’s death Robert, having no title or land, went off to fight for Philip II of Spain. On his return Elizabeth created him Earl of Leicester, a KG, and gave him land including Kenilworth Castle; he also became Chancellor of Oxford University.

Soldiers returning from fighting, penniless and of no abode, were a social problem which Elizabeth expected her nobles to solve. Robert acquired the building from the Burgesses to be a Hospital for 12 such men in 1571. A hospital at that time meant a shelter of a refuge, and they were set up for the sick, the old, the poor and the mad (eg Bethlehem Hospital in London, known as Bedlam). The 12 Brothers were to come from Warwick, Leamington and Stratford-on-Avon; they were each issued with a black gown, a special hat and a silver badge (showing the bear and ragged staff with an Earl’s coronet). The Master was to be a priest, living on the premises. Robert Dudley died childless but he passed the Hereditary Patronage of the Hospital to his relation, Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), soldier and poet, of Penshurst, Kent. The latter’s successor, Viscount De L’Isle, VC (1909-91), found a Trollopian situation with the Master living in some luxury whilst the Brethren were ill-provided and the building ruinous. In 1950 he dismissed the Master, since when the office has been held by retired military commanders. All have been Admirals or RN Captains; Col. Lesinski is the first from the army. The Master conducts a short service in St James’ Chapel for the Brethren at 9.30am each day, except Monday (when the hospital is closed). The Chapel has no electricity, relying on candles, and is very cold in winter.

The Hospital relies entirely on money from visitors, functions and film shoots. Shakespeare’s plays were performed in the Courtyard soon after each was written. The visitors’ book contains many famous names, eg Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde. In 2013 the BBC filmed a series of programmes fronted by David Dimbleby, which included the Hospital. By chance, when sorting through old papers, a photograph of his father, Richard, with two of the Brethren taken by the Warwickshire Advertiser was discovered a few days later. The BBC had made a TV programme in May 1952 at the hospital but it was no longer in the Corporation’s archives. The beautiful gardens are open from Easter to the end of September. They contain the Master’s Vase which is 2,000 years old and came from the banks of the river Nile at Luxor. It is framed by a Norman arch which was removed from the Chapel.

SPRINGFIELD HALL – A COUNTRY HOUSE IN KNOWLE

Talk given by Elaine Warner of Knowle LHS on 28 April 2014 to Solihull LHC

Springfield Hall is one mile from Knowle on the Kenilworth road where it takes a sharp right hand turn. Former owners were recorded by the parish’s Freckleton Dole to which they contributed, starting with Richard Goodall from 1685; the house had been shown in the 1605 Survey of Knowle. In 1739 it passed with 200 acres to Thomas Fisher, whose family had restored Barston Church after it was burnt down in 1721. There were several Thomas Fishers, but the one who died in 1780 passed Springfield to Richard Moland who had married his daughter, Mary. He built the present house, designed by Joseph Boromi (1739-1808) a pupil of Robert Adam who had recently completed Gt. Packington Church (1789). Moland died in 1797 leaving four daughters who, with Thomas Fisher’s only surviving daughter, Anne, sold Springfield with 200 acres to Joseph Boultbee in 1798 for £10,000 (land prices being high due to the Napoleonic Wars).

The Boultbee family came from Baxterley Hall, near Atherstone. Joseph died in 1806 and was followed by his son, also Joseph, who married Elizabeth Moore. Their son, Joseph Moore Boultbee inherited Springfield in 1848, and his son Henry in 1868. Over the years the Boultbees bought (eg Elvers Green Farm, Hall Farm) and sold various parcels of land so that by 1904 the deeds did not show the true holdings. Henry moved to Warwick in 1888 and the house was leased out. On his death in 1903 his son Charles inherited; he put the estate of over 600 acres up for sale in 14 separate lots. Many of the farms went to the sitting tenants. The central 200 acres fetched only £10,000, the same as in 1798, due to cheap imports of grain and (frozen) mutton which wrecked agricultural profits. The house with these acres was bought by George Eveson, the local coal merchant.

He sold the house and grounds in 1912 for £20,000 to George Jackson who became a great benefactor to Knowle. That year (the 500^th Anniversary of its Foundation) he bought, anonymously, the Guild House and restored it – a fact revealed only after his death in 1948. He and his wife had four children – Clive, Guy, Mollie and Peggy – and they entertained generously at Springfield. The house was modernised with central heating and an electric lift. The glass conservatory was converted into a ballroom. There were five bedrooms and two bathrooms on the first floor, and nine and one on the second. The family moved to their other property, Oare Manor in Somerset, in 1941 when Springfield was requisitioned. The house was occupied by Singer Motor Company staff and the grounds were used to decoy German bombers away from Coventry. In 1946 it was sold with 90 acres to the City of Birmingham for use as a school for children with special needs. Currently there are 63 aged between 4 and 11.

The Jacksons also made major alterations to the outbuildings. The stables were rebuilt as an exact replica of the Kaiser’s stables in Berlin with 15 loose boxes and ancillary accommodation. There was housing for seven motor cars, including a Lanchester, and a cottage for Blundell the chauffeur. In WWI the stable block was used as a Voluntary Aid Detachment convalescent home with Mrs Jackson as commandant (for which she was later awarded an OBE), and her daughters as nurses; they also organised a collection for the Spitfire Fund. The elder son, Major Clive, served in both wars and lived for a time at The Gatehouse, Barston. He followed his father as Master of the North Warwickshire Hunt, which often met at the house, before WWII. Much of the estate was planted to give cover to foxes or game, eg the man-made Nappins Covert. Col Guy fought with the Warwickshire Yeomanry in North Africa and Italy, receiving a DSO.

Like other large houses, Springfield was well staffed. During the Boultbee era there were usually seven or eight domestic staff including a cook, footman, housemaids, etc. Outside staff were gardeners and a groom, all recorded in Censuses as living in the house or its outbuildings. The family claimed pews in Knowle Church especially for their staff. There were probably other staff who came in on a daily basis. The Jacksons had a larger staff – butler, housekeeper and eight maids, besides five grooms and an additional chauffeur.

Farmland was converted into a landscaped garden during Richard Moland’s occupation (1781-97). There was a croquet lawn, rose garden, walled garden for vegetables, greenhouses for peaches, figs and grapes, and two well stocked fishpools. The grounds, now partly overgrown, still possess the huge Wellingtonias, a tall Tulip Tree, and a small Maidenhair Fern Tree. There is a nature reserve with a study centre built in 1980 with facilities for the disabled. In the last few years the elegant bridge across the River Blythe on the estate has been identified as being by Sir John Soane.

SHAKESPEARE – MAN of STRATFORD and WARWICKSHIRE

Talk given by Roger Pringle on 17 March 2014 to Solihull LHC

Stratford-on-Avon, with its important river crossing, was a market town by the 14^th century serving the Felden with its open fields to the south and Arden, more wooded, to the north. The present bridge was built in 1490 by Hugh Clopton, who also funded the Guild House and almshouses), a Stratford born Mercer (and Lord Mayor) of London. The Lord of the Manor was the Bishop of Worcester, who laid out the new mediaeval town on a grid in the 14^th century to the east of the Old Town around Holy Trinity Church. The town’s population was 1,500 in the 1560s and 2,000 in the early 17^th century – the largest in the county after Coventry.

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in his parent’s house in Henley Street (now owned by the Birthplace Trust). His father, John, had moved from Snitterfield, where his father was a tenant farmer, and had married Mary, daughter of Robert Arden, a freehold farmer of Wilmcote. Robert died in 1556 and his inventory survives. John was a glover, making and selling gloves, purses and belts from his house. At its back he prepared the skins, using paring knives (circular and semi-circular). He also had other commercial interests, including the buying and selling of wool – but in 1572 he was arraigned before the court for doing so without a licence. It was a profitable business – in one year his turnover was £210, which compared with the (well paid) masters at the Grammar School on £20pa. John was a local Councillor who became Bailiff (ie Mayor) of Stratford.

William attended the ‘petty school’ for boys before going to the Grammar School when aged 7-8. There he was taught to read, write and speak in Latin with a sound grounding using William Lilley’s Latin Grammar. The masters were all Oxford graduates (often ex College Fellows) so standards were high. Books in English included The ABC, the Book of Common Prayer, Bible and the Catechism. Besides arithmetic, rhetoric and dialectic was also taught – the master would set a subject and the buys would argue for and against. There were acting classes which initiated William into his later career. As a playwright he drew frequently on his family and educational experiences, eg the paring knife in the Merchant of Venice, the wool trade (including use of the tod weight) in The Winters Tale, and the classroom scene in The Merry Wives of Windsor; Ovid was clearly his favourite poet as evidenced by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. William also used his knowledge of country life, eg falconry in The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet.

William left school, as was usual, about the age of 14 but did not appear to go, like some of his contemporaries, to Oxford or Cambridge. It is not known what he did, but it is possible that he became an assistant master at the Grammar School. He was involved in the thriving amateur dramatic scene, and may have performed before Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Kenilworth in 1575. He would have attended performances of London actors who visited Stratford, and other towns, annually during the summer. In 1587 no less than three London companies appeared, as shown by payments made to them by the local council ranging from 20shillings to 5s. It was probably these experiences which triggered William to go to London. He joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Company at the Globe. They performed regularly before the Queen at Whitehall and Richmond. The Company became King James’ favourites (he paid them twice what his predecessor had done), and were renamed The King’s Men. William lived in five different houses during the 25 years he acted and wrote in London, but he returned frequently to Stratford.

In winter 1582/3 at the age of 18 he had married Anne Hathaway, a farmer’s daughter from Shottery. She was 26 and pregnant with Susanna at the time of the marriage, whose location is unknown. Early in 1585 Anne gave birth to twins: Hamnet, their only son who died young, and Judith. By 1592, when the London theatres closed for two years because of the plague (and he turned to writing poetry), William had written several successful plays (including Titus Andronicus, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Henry VI). In 1597 he bought New Place, the second biggest house in Stratford, for Mary and the children. Sadly it was pulled down in the 18^th century, but a drawing survives. His local ties remained strong, eg Fluellen and Bardolf appeared in the 1592 list of church absentees from Holy Trinity (as did William’s father, now very old), and he bought many acres of land to the north-east and south of the town. William also met the heavy expenses incurred when his father was granted a coat of arms in October 1596, with the device of a spear. No letters written by William survive and only one written to him – from Richard Quiney in 1598 asking for £30.

William lived a pressured life writing two plays each year, often to deadlines and involving research, over 20 years besides acting. He also became a shareholder, ie a member of the management team, of The Globe. Around 1610 he left London and returned permanently to Stratford. Susanna married Dr John Hall of Hall’s Croft in 1607; he was a Cambridge educated physician. Elizabeth, William’s grandchild, was born the following year; she died childless in 1670. William died on 23 April 1616, and was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity. His bust, in alabaster by Gerard Johnson, on the adjacent wall was erected within a year. His will was drawn up by Francis Collins, the Stratford solicitor, three months before William’s death.

LORDS OF THE MANOR OF HENLEY IN ARDEN

Talk given by Roy Holding on 17 February 2014 to Solihull LHC

A manor was a territory granted by the monarch to a lord who had rights of succession. The French word ‘manere’ means to remain. The lord could sell his freehold or the monarch could reclaim it. Feudalism meant that the lord, who had to supply men and arms at the king’s command, had military, legal and economic power over his vassals. The Court Leet was the body by which the lord exercised justice.

What is today called Henley in Arden consisted of two parishes, neither of which was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Beaudesert was part of Preston Bagot. This was given by William the Conqueror to the de Montfort family. Thurston de Montfort (1120-70) built the castle and St Nicholas Church. Queen Matilda’s charter of 1140 granted him a market on Sundays. Henley was part of the manor of Wootton Wawen whose Saxon lord was Wawen, but after 1066 it was given by the king to Robert de Stafford. The village, on an old Roman route, grew faster than Beaudesert. The two manors were merged in the 13^th century, for reasons unknown.

The de Montforts were Lords of the Manor of Henley from 1066 until 1369, when they were followed by the Earls of Warwick until 1478. Sir Ralph Boteler, who became Lord High Treasurer in 1444, built the Guildhall and St John’s Church. Henry VI’s charter of 1449 granted him the income from court fines both within and beyond his manor. He had no heir so the manor reverted to the Crown in 1478. Until the Civil War it was generally kept in hand, but occasionally granted to an individual. One such was Richard Walker who sold it to Thomas Archer in 1656. Andrew Archer died in 1790: he had no male heir but four daughters who, with their husbands, were all Lords of the Manor simultaneously until 1801. The Archers remained lords until 1873.

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911), Lord of the Manor of Claverdon and part of the distinguished Darwin family, bought the lordship of Henley in 1873. That family sold it in 1914 to William Fieldhouse, a Birmingham industrialist, who restored the Guildhall. On his death in 1928, his daughter Olive Nancy Barnard became lord, and donated the Guildhall to the town. She died in 1974 and her grandson inherited. He auctioned the title in 1990.

It was bought by Joseph Hardy of Pittsburgh for $200,000. He made his first visit in 1992 and was well pleased with the living traditions of his purchase. He proved to be a great benefactor and, amongst many other gifts, financed the creation of the Heritage Centre. He is still alive but gifted the title in 1994 to his daughter, Robin Hardy Freel, an American restauranteur. She has made several visits.

The Court Leet, headed by the High Bailiff, is still elected each November and continues certain responsibilities, eg the tasting of ale, weighing of butter and the checking of watercourses. Its records go back to 1590 and it holds various charters given by the monarch to the Lords of the Manor. It also has a very rare copy of Sir William Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656). Other local Court Leets survive at Alcester, Bromsgrove and Warwick (now the Town Council).

The BBC’s Time Team was given three days to excavate Beaudesert Castle in 2002. The foundations of the stone fortifications were discovered, along with coins (c1200 AD), tiles and pottery. The castle was virtually destroyed after the Battle of Evesham (1265), but later refurbished before being left to ruin, and its stone plundered, in the 16^th century.

[Roy Holding was High Bailiff in 2006 and 2007]

Talk given by Val Tonks on 20th January 2014

The Lakes were constructed in 1821-23 to supply water to the Stratford-on-Avon Canal (opened in 1793). It was pumped by a copy of a Boulton & Watt engine (replaced by a hydraulic system in the 1950s) in the Engine House. Now without its chimney, this was close to The Red Lion, where the North Warwickshire Hunt continues to meet on occasions. The other hostelry was The Reservoir Hotel at the other end of The Causeway which in the early 1900s advertised itself as ‘The Scarborough of the Midlands’. On Bank Holiday Mondays it became very rowdy with many young people coming from Birmingham by train. Local residents stayed indoors and extra police were drafted in, usually from Coventry. A small lock-up held a few of the drunks overnight, others were taken back to the station, and the remainder fell into ditches - and sometimes the lake. Captain James Bickley wrote an apt poem describing what happened on these occasions.

The Great Western railway opened in 1908 with Earlswood Lakes Station heavily promoted to attract passengers. The North Warwickshire & Stratford Company had secured a Parliamentary Bill in 1894 but failed to raise the capital, so its rights were transferred to the GWR, which commenced work in 1905. Many pictures around this time were taken by Edward Manley, a local photographer. Sadly on his death his widow threw all his glass plates away.

Several local people offered refreshment to visitors. Bill Dolphin at ‘The Hermit’s House’ on the lakeside sold maggots for the fishermen and pies, all stored together, besides teas. The cottage was burnt down in the 1970s. Miss Sears of Singleton Cottage offered tea in her garden and newspapers. The local stores, whose deeds survive back to the 1880s, had not always been a shop. The sub-Post Office opened in 1871.

Many of the local landowners had ancient buildings. Manor Farm was occupied by the Osborne family for generations, and was now a craft centre. The Hortons lived at Elliott’s Hall: when the last John died in 1900 part of its land became the Shirley Race Course. This attracted great crowds up until WWII, but in 1955 it was sold to Shirley Golf Club. The Hall became a hotel and then, in 1967, the staff training college for Lloyds TSB.

The Mount was a mediaeval earthwork (though Dugdale thought it was Roman) at Cheswick Green. In 1904 Philip Baker, a Birmingham solicitor, bought Mount Dairy Farm with its 129 acres to turn it into a Pleasure Ground ‘as a preventive cure for the excesses of the time’, and destroyed much of the earthwork. The grounds offered fine gardens and refreshment rooms, tennis, bowling, concerts, dances, a shooting range and even classes in beekeeping. A lady parachutist jumped from a hot air balloon. An unusual feature was a garden shaped as a Maltese Cross commemorating soldiers who had served in the Boer War, including 37 VCs. The Pleasure Ground proved very popular with people arriving by horse-drawn omnibuses. A photo of the first motor bus in Earlswood was dated 1912. The grounds fell into decay during WWI and in 1916 Mr Baker decided to sell off the land in plots of 2,000 sq yds for £75 each. Many were bought by war veterans and retired munitions’ workers as intended, who erected huts or had disused railway carriages. Water came from wells, many of which were later covered over by stones from the demolished Victoria Cross Garden.

St Patrick’s Church, Salter Street, was built in 1839-40 in the fields, but was later substantially remodelled. It was next to the school which had opened there in 1816, and since 1948 has been a primary school. The church’s dedication is thought to reflect the esteem in which the Rev’d Patrick Murray Smythe (1804-72) was held. As curate of Tanworth-in-Arden from 1829 he was given oversight of the new church in that parish, before it was created a separate parish in 1843. The Rev’d Smythe became Rector of Solihull in 1847 and served here until his death.

On 11 May 1941 a German Heinkel bomber crashed off Rumbush Lane having been shot down by an artillery battery at Wythall. It was one of 33 planes raiding Longbridge, but it mistook the railway line. The home guard was called out and found only one of the crew, badly burned, had survived. His silk parachute was much in demand to make into underclothes: one appeared on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow in 2013. A few years earlier an American researching the survivor spent two days in Earlswood, visiting the site and the village museum – which contains some relics of the aircraft.

Mrs Tonks is the custodian of the museum (founded in 1977) which has recently been enlarged next to the Village Hall (land for which was given in 1928 by Miss Warder of Earlswood Court). The Museum is open on the first Saturday of each month from March to September inclusive, 2.30 – 4.30pm.

HANDSWORTH PARK

Talk given by Simon Baddeley on 18 November 2013 to Solihull LHC

The establishment of Handsworth Park in 1888 was a political victory. It was not gifted by a wealthy family but its original 44 acres were purchased by local ratepayers after five years of controversy.

Handsworth was then a village in Staffordshire with a population of 14,000 at the 1871 Census. St Mary’s church was a 12^th century foundation with a large parish. This included the Soho Manufactory built by Matthew Boulton in 1761-3. He and his fellow industrialists, James Watt and William Murdock, were buried in the church. Although the factory was demolished in 1862-3, Handsworth continued to grow as successful Birmingham families moved into the surrounding countryside. By 1881 the population was almost 30,000; the railway station opened in 1896 (and closed in 1941). Development was disorderly with many speculative builders not controlled by an overall plan, and the necessary infrastructure was added only haphazardly.

The Handsworth Sanitary Board had been established (like others) by the 1872 Public Health Act to deal with drainage and sewerage. It also took over responsibilities from the Board of Guardians to provide welfare for the poor. It was funded by levying a rate on local properties. In a meeting in March 1883 some members of the Board considered that a park would provide a desirable amenity for residents. This was opposed by those who considered the surrounding countryside sufficed. Other ideas were for a library, police station, clinic or swimming pool, but the majority were against increasing the rates for such purposes. A new sewer from Smethwick to Saltley, however, required funding by a loan of £79,000 and the rates had to be increased to pay this off: the proponents of the amenities secured a slightly higher increase than was necessary.

Over the next few years its supporters continued to press for a park, which would provide playing fields and a lake for swimming/boating. Land prices fell temporarily and the Grove Estate came on the market. After a vote of 10 to 1 in favour, the Board offered £6,000 for the 44 acres, and then £7,000: both were rejected. Finally a bid of £7,500 was accepted.

A public meeting was held in the local Council House (now part of South Birmingham College) on 11 January 1887, chaired by Joseph Wainwright, to endorse the Board’s proposal. Only male ratepayers were entitled to vote, and they were assured that purchase of the land would not add to the rates as sufficient reserves were available. It was a noisy meeting with much heckling by opponents. One was the Rector, Dr Randle, who said that a park would not benefit the community – “We have an agricultural parish, some of the finest air in the kingdom, and I believe the park will be more for the benefit for the roughs of Birmingham.” Others argued that the rates should be reduced as the inhabitants were not receiving value for money – there was still flooding, no kerbstones – and the Board was extravagant. The motion to establish the park was carried. It was interesting to note that a few months later an Anti-Park candidate, Mr Blackler, stood at a local election and came bottom of the poll.

The Park was designed by Richard Hartland Vertegens, a professional landscape gardener who had laid out Wolverhampton’s West Park, using Japanese ideas on the selection and arrangement of trees. He was not awarded the contract, but his preliminary plans were retained, and used, by the Board. Apparently he bore no grudge. The Park was opened on 20 June 1888.

In 1898 the Rev’d Prebendary Hodgson, Dr Randle’s successor as Rector, obtained the Church Commissioners’ agreement to donate the 19 acres of glebe land on the east side of the railway line to the Park. The Rectory was demolished – its site is now the lake – and a new one built elsewhere. The extension was laid out by Edwin Kenworthy, Surveyor to the new Handsworth UDC. It was formally opened by the 6^th Earl of Dartmouth on 30 March 1898 to be “open to the people forever.” In 1911 Handsworth, now with a population of 68,000, was transferred from Staffordshire to the City of Birmingham.

A park need to be well maintained and for many years there was a dedicated team of local gardeners. But after WWII it was just one of the city’s parks served by an itinerant staff with no local loyalties. In the 1970-1980s it deteriorated badly, as did the whole area. Neglect and graffiti were widespread. In 1994 a campaign was launched by local residents for the Park’s restoration, and in 2006 it was refurbished at a cost of £9 million including money from the Heritage Lottery, European Development Fund and the City Council. Dedicated gardeners now continue to keep it in excellent condition.

The History of the Solihull Society of Arts

Talk given by Nigel Cameron on 21 October 2013

After our AGM we heard a talk by Nigel Cameron on the subject of the history of the SSA. This was a follow-up to the recent history of the SSA which was written by Nigel and published in the spring. The original idea for the Solihull Society of Arts (SSA) arose in 1944 from a casual conversation between Lady Edith Bird and Dr Richard Wassall. The first committee meeting took place at the Council House with Councillor Malley starting the proceedings, until Wilfred Lane was elected as Chairman. Several sections were set up. Fourteen literary events were planned. These included lectures by Trenchard Cox, the newly appointed Director of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Sir Barry Jackson of the Birmingham Rep and Dr Raymond Priestly, the geologist on the Scott and Shakleton Antarctic Expeditions. The first Annual General Meeting of the SSA was held on 30 July 1945. The 'Golden Years' of the SSA were in the period 1969-1994. In 1969 50 Lode Lane was purchased as a headquarters for the SSA. One of the three founding sections of the SSA was the Music Section. It ran a Competitive Music Competition during the period 1952-1974 in which cups were awarded as prizes. Other sections were soon founded including the Literary Section (1944-2003), the Art Section (1958 to date). the Recorded Music Circle (1981 to date), the Film and Video Unit (1986-1990), the Local History Circle (1987 to date), the Sosage Factory (1993 to date) and Edgeyouth (2007 to date). It was considered by Nigel Cameron that the period 1995 to 2010 were the years of decline. Overall membership of the SSA sections has now stabilised to around 250 despite the attractions of other groups and societies. (For even more details of the SSA see Nigel Cameron's book, A History of Solihull Society of Arts, available at our meetings for the special price of £10).

DON’T RING US

Talk given by Dr Chris Upton on 16 September 2013 to Solihull LHC

Europe’s first ring road was Vienna’s Ringstrasse which was constructed in 1857 when the city’s old walls were demolished. In 1911 the City Surveyor, H.E.Stilgo, proposed an outer ring road around Birmingham to lessen the number of vehicles in the centre. By 1926 the No 11 bus serviced this circuit, taking two hours to cover the 25 miles with a ticket costing 15d. Some roads along the route, eg Lordswood Road in Harborne were widened, but the plan was not carried through. The number of car licences in Birmingham grew from 6,000 in 1921 to 70,000 in 1936.

Various measures were taken to deal with the continuing growth of traffic. The first traffic island appeared at Six Ways, Erdington in 1926. Traffic lights at Pershore

Road/Priory Road date from 1929. The first one way system was introduced along Colmore Row in 1933. [The Triennial Music Festival in the late 19^th century had led to carriages going anti-clockwise around St Philip’s Church awaiting the concerts’ conclusion]. The driving test was introduced nationally in 1937 (although it was suspended 1939-45). In 1950 there were over 97,000 cars licensed in Birmingham; by 1972 this had grown to 253,000. Pedestrians also needed to be educated: many posters and leaflets were produced and children were taught to ‘look right, look left’, etc.

Plans for an inner ring road were published in 1943. A dual carriageway 110ft wide was envisaged – even along Colmore Row – at a cost of £15m (including £12m for buying property). Herbert Manzoni, Chief Engineer & Surveyor from 1935, was the driving force in planning the regeneration of the city after WWII: ‘handsome and sweeping’ buildings and roads would replace ‘the shabby’. Unlike Joseph Chamberlain’s plans in the 1870s, including the new Corporation Street, there was no opposition to the proposals. An Act of Parliament was passed to authorise the Inner Ring Road which involved the demolition of over 1,000 properties (including 320 factories and 400 commercial premises, many of which relocated away from Birmingham). The House of Lords insisted that land be paid for at 1939 prices, which greatly added to the overall cost. It would have been cheaper to build a middle ring road further away from the centre. The planners visited USA (not Europe, which was normal) in 1956 to gather ideas. They devised a master plan involving Inner, Middle and Outer Ring Roads, but the last was never built. The No 6 bus went around the middle ring road.

The first section of the inner ring – Smallbrook Queensway (‘Birmingham’s Regent Street’ according to James Roberts, its architect) – opened in 1960. The whole of the circular was completed in 1971 after 14 years at a cost of £33m – double the original estimate. It was opened by the Queen who, by mistake, named the whole 8 miles ‘The Queensway’ rather than simply the Smallbrook section as had originally been intended. By the early 1980s the road was considered to be a ‘concrete collar’ around the centre restricting development. Most of its pedestrian subways were therefore replaced by walkways over the traffic.

HISTORY of ASHLEIGH ROAD, SOLIHULL: Talk given by Nigel Cameron on 19 November 2012 to Solihull LHC

In March 1903 Richard Chattock of Solihull Hall sold a rectangle of land between the Warwick and Streetsbrook Roads to Joseph Wells for £3,526. The land comprised two fields and parts of two others, amounting to 14 acres. Mr Wells was a butcher in Birmingham. Within two years he had to construct a road, but Mr Chattock retained the right to pass across the centre of the land at all times with carts, and to drive animals, to/from the fields between the road and the village. Private dwellings only could be erected: those north of the cross road must cost at least £600 each (a pair of semi-detached was £1,200) and those south £500. Mr Wells wasted no time in constructing the road – his contractor was Trentham of Cowhays - and the 1904 Ordnance Survey showed Ashleigh Road as a dotted line with no plots defined. The first plot to be sold, however, was No 12 in October 1903 for £273. In 1881 Solihull had a population of 1,600 which rose to 3,700 by 1901. The railway had opened in 1852, and the rapid growth of Birmingham resulted in those who had prospered moving out of the city along the railway lines. Ashleigh Road was directly opposite Solihull Station. By 1921 the population of the village was 6,000.

No 1: It was designed in 1907 by Ernest Wigley for Charles Lander, a jeweller, and his wife Emma. They called their house Estcourt (the houses in the road were not numbered until 1932), and the 1911 Census showed they had two children and a domestic servant. In 1926 Dr Carmichael Thomas, one of Dr Quinet’s partners, bought the property. On 13 June 1934 a garden fete was held in aid of the RSPCA with two distinguished guests – Gertrude Lawrence and Douglas Fairbanks II. The next occupants were the Shepherdsons. Shep was ARP Warden during WWII, and his large handbell was stolen (but promptly returned) by a small boy. On 25 May 1962 the queen visited the borough and Shep drove her up Ashleigh road from the station. Prince Charles visited No 1, now an Abbeyfield, in May 1991.

No 14: James Dutfield bought the 128ft long frontage for Nos 14, 16 & 18 for £500 in 1905. He was a coal merchant, but became the secretary of the Birmingham Building Society, and was active with Joseph Chamberlain in the formation of the Liberal Unionist Party. The house was the first in the road, and one of the first in the village, to have a telephone: Solihull 15 in the 1908 directory. The next occupant was Foster Duggan, a solicitor who was also interested in politics, and the third owner was Charles Hardaker. His daughter, Margaret, kept 45 guinea pigs above the garage and a horse which was not allowed in the rear garden as it was used for bowls.

No 16/18: Hugh Aldis lived at No 16 for 20 years from 1916 but never installed a telephone. He founded Aldis Brothers of Sparkhill, which made the famous Aldis Lamp in WW1. In No 18 from 1930-46 was Ralph de Courcy Deykin and his two elder sisters. All were unmarried. In 1939, knowing that there would be a paper shortage, they stocked their attic with thousands of toilet rolls. All were later confiscated by the Fire Brigade who pointed out the risk from incendiary bombs.

No 17: The home of the architect Ernest Wigley and Edith who he had married in 1904 when he designed the house. It still has its original cast iron nameplate – Kilmore. Foster Gould, manager of Lloyds Bank in Solihull, bought the house in 1925 for £1,200. His younger son, Henry, married Norah Duggan of No 14 in 1933 – one of three instances of young people in the road marrying each other. There were 10 instances of people who moved house within the road as they liked living in it.

No 19: James Ross, a circuit judge, and his wife Clare lived here from 1944. They had many pets, including an unusual one. Terence & Muriel Waters from No 10 were sitting in the lounge after dinner when Muriel felt something on her shoulder: she was terrified. It was the pet rat.

No 20: Designed for Mrs Stokes by William de Lacy-Aherne in 1904, it was notable for its exterior colours: dark brown timbers, cream infill panels, dark green woodwork and pale green bargeboards. Mrs Stokes mortgaged the property with her brother – people rarely used Building Societies, and never banks, for this purpose at this time.

Nos 23/25: Built in 1905/6 on land purchased by Thomas & Arthur Lancaster. Originally there was no fencing between the pair as both were occupied by family members – Martin, their father in No 23 and Arthur in No 25. The Lancasters were keen astronomers and had a large telescope in a thatched building, which was not demolished until the early 1990s. No 23 was used as the Methodist Manse 1958-2003. Mrs Bessie Lancaster died aged 93 in 1995, so the family had occupied the house for 87 years – a record challenged by the Deakin/Dewsbury family of No 33 which has never been put on the market since it was built in 1910.

No 32: Until 1996 when it was demolished, there was a bungalow here built under the Housing [Additional Powers] Act of 1919 which allowed Government money to be used for small dwellings, particularly for those wounded in WWI. The first owner was Major Walter Lindesay. The bungalow was bought in 1989 and rented out, during which time it deteriorated badly. A new house was built, with a date stone of 2000. Opposite is No 35 which, despite being two storied, was called The Bungalow when it was first occupied by John and Beatrice Rowlands in 1908. By the 1930s Kyle & Ruth Patterson lived there, and in November 1940 they accepted an evacuee from the Coventry blitz for a few weeks. Madeline, the same age as their son Jeremy, stayed until the end of the war. They also housed two American soldiers until D Day, whereas the Dewburys in No 33, still with their domestic servant, refused to have anybody.

No 37: Designed by John Burgess Surman in 1927 for Alfred Oxley, the Secretary of the Birmingham School of Art, who specified as few windows as possible facing the street, but who never lived here. It was occupied by his nephew, William. It was built by Charles Grove & Sons of Dorridge within six months.

No 38: Designed in 1922 by Peter Hing, who also designed No 28A in 1954, and had originally been apprenticed to Ernest Wigley. Solihull Council bought the property in 1939 and used it partly for offices and partly for on-duty firemen between call outs from the fire station opposite. Sea Rangers met upstairs 1948-50.

Ashleigh Road was a well to do Edwardian residential street, and so it has remained. Its history is a microcosm of a particular social environment, extending for a century.

The Pearl Workers of Birmingham: Talk given by Val Preece on 15 October 2012

Children at the school where Val Preece taught would bring in pearl waste which they had dug up. And she discovered that her husband’s family had been involved over many generations in the industry in Birmingham. An apprentice’s document of 1783 showed that it was flourishing then. Pearl workers were attracted to Birmingham as, unlike many other cities, it had no guilds. In the 1851 Census there were over 2000 skilled pearl cutters, but thousands more people were involved in the industry. Children swept dust off floors and turned the wheel that powered the tools; women sewed the buttons on to fabrics and on to strips of paper for retail selling. But the trade declined by WWI, and now there was only one cutter – George Hook, whose son did not wish to succeed him.

Shell (mainly from the Near and Far East), uncleaned so very smelly, was landed at St Catherine’s dock in London, and the majority was brought to Birmingham eg 1,300 tons in 1889. At that time it cost c£160 per ton; by 1990 it was £7.50 per pound. The outside of the oyster shell was called Bark and, after smoothing, was used for ornaments and dishes. The inside was the Mother of Pearl and was cut into buttons, ornamentation in differing shapes (eg a leaf or flower) for other artefacts, or used on its own. Roundels were marked in the inside of the shell to obtain to obtain the maximum number of buttons, etc, while avoiding worm deterioration. The smallest buttons cut by the Hook family were 1/16th inch diameter – for dolls’ clothes. Buttons could be broken in a mangle after washing, so there was a constant demand for replacements. In the 18th century most of the demand for pearl came from men, following Beau Brummel’s taste, and only later did women demand it for their fashions.

Instead of pictures, Val Preece showed some of the many objects made in pearl – inkwells, bookmarks, thimble cases, broaches, hairslides – or ornamented with it – papier-mache, boxes, purses, button and crochet hooks, knives and forks of many types, card carriers, collar studs and cuff links (Hook produced 40-50 gross per week at one time).

The apprenticeship lasted seven years as there was much to learn. The shell, usually oyster but sometimes snail, was built up in layers grown over the years (similar to tree rings), and could not be bent. Abalone (from Australia) was green, awabi (from Japan) was knobly, ormer (from Jersey) was a small shell due to the coldness of the waters. Pearl did not corrode (unlike the metal on which it was often mounted), but did not like detergent. Plastic was no substitute for pearl, which always felt cold to the touch. Treddles replaced wheel power for the tools in the early 19th century, but the biggest technical advance was the carburundum – instead of the sandstone – cutting wheel later that century. Sadly the Red Sea was over-fished for shell in the 1880s, so most supplies began to come from the Pacific – which is now being dredged to destruction.

It was always said that Birmingham Town Hall was built (1832) on pearl, but until recently the basis for this was not known. Recent discovery has shown that shell was used between stones to balance them and, more importantly, pearl dust was used to make the mortar. It was very strong, and the building’s foundations extend down 15 feet. Unlike other dust, pearl presented no health problems and indeed was beneficial in healing cuts. Pearl had the same properties as human bones, and workers in the industry often lived to a great age.

Sept 17, 2012 : BEATRICE CADBURY : Fiona Joseph

On September 17th Solihull Local History Circle was host to Fiona Joseph who described the life of Beatrice Cadbury. This member of the Cadbury family is known as the heiress who gave away her fortune. She was the daughter of Richard Cadbury who controlled the fortunes of the family’s confectionery works. Beatrice was brought up as a Quaker. She became a more radical member of this sect after meeting the Dutch reformist Kees Boeke. After studying architecture at Delft University he spent a year in England. He met Quakers and joined their group. He attended Woodbrooke Quaker College in Birmingham where he was introduced to members of the Cadbury family. He met and married Beatrice Cadbury.

In 1912 the couple went to Syria as Quaker missionaries. Two years later they returned to Birmingham after the outbreak of World War I. The married couple became active in peace work which included a trip for Kees to Berlin. He was expelled from England and returned to Holland. Beatrice and the rest of the family soon followed him. Kees and Beatrice believed that war was generated by the entanglement of state and capitalism. Beatrice received a large share in her family’s business. She transferred this money to charitable organizations. Later, she gave her shares to a trust for the workers at the Cadbury factory at Bourneville. For a while Beatrice and Kees abstained from using money so as not to contribute to the state. They would pay neither postage, tolls, nor taxes and never used public transportation. As a result of this they were imprisoned several times and one of their seven children was born in prison.

In the late 1920s they withdrew from international peace movements. They then believed that they could build a better society by educating children and founded a school. The school was based on the Montessori methods. The school became well known in Holland and the Dutch queen Juliana sent her daughters there. Kees Boeke died in 1966 and Beatrice died ten years later after a short illness. The school remains in existence, still educating youngsters with a more modern and state inspired curriculum.